Labour candidate Sally Gimson has been elected as the new councillor for Highgate.

She narrowly beat Alexis Rowell, the Green candidate who defected from the Lib Dems to contest the seat, receiving 1,178 compared to 947 for Mr Rowell.

Anthony Denyer, the Conservative Party candidate, came third with 593 votes while

Liberal Democrat candidate Martin Hay Liberal Democrats came fourth with 111 votes.

Sally Gimson said: “We were hopeful to win and quite optimistic it is a fantastic result everybody worked incredibly hard.

“Voters were very, very angry at the national government cuts and how that was affecting service. They were worried about the future of schools and the NHS. And they were worried about police numbers”

Mrs Gimson said working with embattled residents to save the Holly Lodge community centre is her top priority.

She said: “We are going to work with the people on Holly Lodge estate to try to keep the community centre open and make sure the elderly luncheon club continues. I’m going to use my contacts at another community centre to get some ideas and keep it going.

“I hope that transitional funding can be used to bring in more money to keep the centre going.”

She added: “Some of the leaseholders and tenants feel they are treated poorly by Camden Council. I want to make sure they get quality works and value for money.

“As a councillor you can be that person that links the community to the council.”

Mrs Gimson lives with her husband Andrew, a parliamentary sketch writer for the Daily Telegraph, and her three children in Gospel Oak.

She will replace Michael Nicolaides who announced last month that he was stepping down.