THE daughter of a much-respected councillor who died last month is to stand for election in the same seat.

Tributes from across the political divide were paid to Labour councillor Michael Clark died after battling cancer.

Now his daughter, Eleanor Clark, is aiming to follow in his footsteps and if elected will serve alongside her mother, Carol, in the Grangefield Ward.

Ms Clark was brought up in Grangefield and educated at Newtown Infant and Junior Schools then Grangefield School. After leaving school, she completed an apprenticeship in horticulture with Stockton Council and after a spell as a “postie” is now working with another local council in their environment department.

She is Chair of the Green Project, an environmental group working in Grangefield Ward and the surrounding areas which was set up by her mother a few years ago. She said: “I hope to continue Dad’s work.”

A list of other candidates will be published when the by-election, which is expected to take place on Thursday, September 1, is announced.