TWO tightly fought political encounters had candidates on the edge of their seats at Skipton Town Hall as election officials held a recount of one ward and re-scrutiny of votes at another.

It was the by-election for Craven district council 's Aire Valley with Lothersdale ward which produced the tightest and most dramatic result.

Triumphant was Andrew Brown who upset Tory ranks on Craven council by fending off their young candidate Gemma Harling.

He clinched victory with 652 votes, a majority of just eight after a re-count, which leaves the Conservative dominated council one down.

Councillor Brown also took his Green message to Airedale ward in the North Yorkshire County Council election where he polled 583 votes, only 14 short of matching his Labour rival, Bill Mercer.

He credited his win in Aire Valley and Lothersdale to the anger people felt over the national planning policy and particularly Craven council's waste of £1million in failing to produce a local plan.

"People perceive that developments are going through on the nod and their impression is that they are losing their green environment," said Mr Brown, who revealed he is to fight in the General Election on June 8.

The drama then diverted to Skipton West in the fight for the county council ward where sitting tennant Andy Solloway managed to hold on by the skin of his teeth after a re-scrutiny of papers.

He polled 782 votes, 57 more than his nearest rival Tory, Jonathan Kerr, in a contest which saw five candidates battle it out.

It was something of a re-run of his fight to take the ward three years ago in a by-election where he scraped a majority of just 36.

"At one point I thought I'd lost it this time," said Councillor Solloway, who also holds Skipton South on Craven district council.

"It was such a close run thing and I want to thank all the electors who came out to vote and the other candidates for making it such a fair campaign. The ward saw the highest turn out of all the county council wards."

Sarah Wiltshire for the Greens took on Tory David Ireton in North Craven, attracting 866 votes against his 1,648.

"I'm delighted to get that level of support - it is slightly up on my last outing. We've given people the opportunity to express their views about Green issues. We are making encouraging progress," she said.

The Tories who fought in all seven wards only failed to top the 1,000 vote mark in Skipton East where Chris Harbron notched up 733 coming second to long standing councillor and Independent, Robert Heseltine, and in South Craven where Richard Foster managed only 433 losing out to Philip Barrett with 1,350.

Soaring ahead for the Conservatives was Gill Quinn in Mid Craven, where she attracted 2,201 votes in the two horse race with Labour's John Pope, who polled 706.