A LONG-SERVING Didcot councillor has pledged to continue serving her constituents despite selling her home in the town and buying a new one in Dorset.

Margaret Turner and her husband Michael sold their house in Bosleys Orchard in July and bought a two-bedroom flat near Poole in Dorset.

Mrs Turner, a Conservative town councillor, is also chairwoman of South Oxfordshire District Council, and said the change would not affect her civic duties as she still has an address in Didcot.

She was elected as an SODC councillor for Didcot in May, and as a town councillor for the next four years.

She said: “Being chairman of SODC this year is the icing on the cake for me and I don’t want anything to get in the way of that.

“I want people to know that I will continue to represent them to the best of my ability – if I thought for one minute that I could not complete my duties properly I would be the first to say.

“If I was living in Dorset permanently then it would be difficult – we have bought a holiday home in Dorset for when I finish my time on the council.”

Mum-of-three and grandmother Mrs Turner, 69, said she and her husband were now staying with a family friend in Morrells Close, Didcot, and said that “most days” of the week she would be in Didcot.

Mrs Turner’s husband ran a hairdressing salon in Broadway for more than 40 years before it closed about seven years ago.

She added: “I have spoken to SODC leader John Cotton and the legal eagles at SODC and as far as I am concerned Morrells Close is going to be my address.

“People have voted me in and it is business as usual – my intention is to complete the four-year term.

“I’m very proud to be representing the people of Didcot.”

SODC leader John Cotton said in order to be nominated as an SODC councillor Mrs Turner had to be living or working in the district council area at the time of the nomination.

He added: “Margaret has accommodation in the Didcot area and is carrying out her duties as a councillor.

“She is a woman of great integrity and has been working hard as chairman of the council .”

Labour town councillor Margaret Davies said: “I assume Mrs Turner will be splitting her time between her new home and Didcot, which will inevitably mean she spends less time in Didcot”