IT was a resounding victory for South Somerset’s Liberal Democrats last week as the party romped to a majority on the district council.

As well as deciding the leading party on the district council for the next four years, last week's election may have given voters a glimpse further into the future.

The final score saw the candidates in yellow secure 41 seats, with the Conservatives taking 15 and four independents being elected.

The biggest margin of victory went to Cllr Adam Dance, who received 1,803 votes in the South Petherton ward.

Fellow Liberal Democrat Crispin Raikes took the ward's second seat, while the highest vote-getter not elected received 414 votes.

Cllr Dance's growing political career has not gone unnoticed by the Liberal Democrats.

He was recently picked for a course to train up younger councillors for a strong future in the field.

At the age of 26, Cllr Dance is the chairman of South Petherton parish council, has retained his district council seat, and also represents the ward on Somerset County Council.

South Petherton also had the highest turnout in Thursday's vote, with 51 per cent of registered voters submitting a ballot.

“It is local people and it is the farmers, to be honest,” said Cllr Dance.

“They supported me massively this time when generally they are Conservative. That is why I am here.”

Adam was first elected to the district council four years ago and has been on councils for more than a decade.

He added: “The only reason I got involved so young was the youth club got shut down. I went to the parish council to get them to campaign to keep it open and I wrote to John Osman (then-leader of the county council).

“I decided the only way I was going to make a change was to be on the parish council.

“We saved the youth club and it has remained open ever since.”

A more recent campaign has helped to win Cllr Dance favour in the area.

He added: “Somerset County Council decided to shut our library and now we will be funding that and have the ribbon-cutting on Saturday.

“I was campaigning on a local basis, with the things I have done. I was also able to get more young people to turn out than normal.

“I know the farmers quite well from being in the local area and said ‘locally, you know I do the job well. Can I put a sign up in your field?’

“They would normally vote Conservative but I have a lot of single votes and that was for me personally rather than the Lib Dems.”

Cllr Dance even increased his majority on 2015.

“It is like reapplying for your own job and if you aren’t re-elected you didn’t do your job well,” he said.

“It is interesting because a lot of people think because I am young I won’t pay attention but, compared to half the older councillors who are new to this, have been on councils for 11 years.

“It makes me feel like I am doing the job well.

“People are supporting me, which is great.”