TWO new members have been co-opted onto Melksham Without Parish Council following a three-way contest.
Three residents stood for two vacancies and those with the majority vote were appointed.
The parish council meeting last Monday co-opted Cllr Robert Shea-Simonds for the Bowerhill ward and Cllr Daniel Barber for the Berryfield ward.
Mr Shea-Simonds got more votes than local Bowerhill resident James Saville to win the seat.
The pair replace Cllr Steve Petty, who resigned his Berryfield ward seat in April, and Cllr Joanne Pattison, who also stood down from her Bowerhill seat in April for personal reasons.
Cllr Barber, 25, has worked in Wiltshire since June 2012. He left the armed forces in October 2017 and now runs a marketing company supporting local and independent businesses.
He said: “I wanted to become a councillor because I am already trying to achieve lots to benefit the wider community in my personal and professional life and now I can do that politically as well.”
Cllr Shea-Simonds is retired but works with a local charity.
He spent 47 years in the motor trade, manufacturing, care and recruitment sectors.
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