New councillors have been elected to the city council in by-elections following a trio of resignations.

Three seats were up for grabs across the district as voters headed to the polls on Thursday for the Canterbury City Council vacancies in Herne, Canterbury and Whitstable.

All the wards were held by the sitting parties, meaning the balance of the council has remained unchanged as a result of the elections.

In Canterbury, Labour won the St Stephens ward seat following the resignation of Elizabeth Carr-Ellis.

Beth Forrester ran out a comfortable winner with a majority of 383 and polling 47% of the overall vote. The turnout was 26.4%.

Cllr Forrester said: “I'm honoured to have been elected by the residents of St Stephen's to represent the community I call home.

“I will return the trust of those who voted for me, and hope to earn the trust of those that did not. I will be a strong voice for all the residents.

“It's been fantastic to speak to hundreds of my neighbours throughout the campaign, to listen to their concerns and the issues that matter most to them and their families.

“Canterbury's Labour-led council is delivering change and I'm pleased to have been entrusted to join city and county councillors Alister Brady and Mel Dawkins to carry on that great work.”

Stuart Heaver (Green) held the Gorrell ward in Whitstable for his party after former councillor Steve Wheeler stepped down.

He polled 49.5% of the ballot with 640 votes more than Labour’s Valerie Kenny among a turnout of 28.7%.

Cllr Heaver, a former naval officer and journalist who has lived in the town for 20 years, said: “Greens work hard all year round on local issues like sewage pollution, excessive luxury housing development that fails to meet local needs, and the uncontrolled spread of holiday lets - this was the focus of our campaign.

“I am delighted to have won the by-election and very proud of Whitstable for staying Green.”

Meanwhile, following the resignation of long-serving Conservative Joe Howes due to “health reasons”, the Tories kept hold of the Herne and Broomfield seat.

In a tighter race than the other two wards, Grace Paget came out on top taking 40.7% of the vote - only 84 votes ahead of Reform’s Mark Mulvihill’s 473 votes (34.5%).

She said on her Facebook page after the result: “I’m delighted to have been elected as a councillor for Herne and Broomfield, joining Cllr Robert Jones.

“I’d like to thank all the other candidates for a good, clean campaign and thank all those who voted for putting their trust in me.

“I am honoured to be one of your representatives on Canterbury City Council and I will work hard for you.”

Conservative group leader on the council Cllr Rachel Carnac added: “She fought a positive campaign focusing on local issues, and I know she will be an excellent advocate for residents.

“We were very sorry to lose Joe Howes as a councillor through ill-health, but we know Grace will step into his shoes with aplomb.”

In all three wards, the surge of Reform UK was evident as the party led by Nigel Farage took second place in the St Stephens and Herne and Broomfield wards, while also coming third in the Gorrell ward vote.

The count took place at Augustine House, Canterbury on Friday.