A TRIUMPHANT Tony Arbour has promised a more hands-off City Hall after trouncing his rivals at the polls.

The Conservative councillor comfortably won a third term last Friday as London Assembly member for Hounslow, Kingston and Richmond.

He gained nearly77,000 votes, a swing of nine per cent, to defy analysts who had predicted a victory for Lib Dem candidate Stephen Knight.

Mr Knight was second with near-ly 50,000 votes, ahead of Labour's Ansuya Sodha (30,190). National Front candidate Andrew Cripps won 4,754 votes.

Speaking after his victory, Mr Arbour said: "I will work with Boris Johnson to keep City Hall off our backs and out of our wallets.

"We won't interfere with the decisions made by local councils, which have been directly elected."

Among other things, that will mean greater freedom for planning chiefs at Hounslow Council as they prepare their 'masterplan' for a new-look Hounslow town centre.

Mr Arbour said the size of his majority sent a clear message to the ruling Lib Dems in Kingston and Richmond that residents were tiring of their 'arrogant' approach.

"Richmond Council's ideological pursuit of politically correct policies has led to the persecution of motorists, parents and those who wish to preserve the character of the borough," he added.

"This represents a sea change in attitudes and the Keens (MPs Ann and Alan) in Hounslow should also be very worried."

He listed his top priorities for his third term as:

Restoring the protected viewing corridor from Richmond Park to St Paul's Cathedral, which was halved in width by Ken Livingstone

Giving local councils, rather than Transport for London, the final say on where bus stops are located 

Reclassifying people's back yards as green land to prevent 'garden grabbing' developers taking advantage

Appointing more transport support officers to crack down on yobbish behaviour aboard buses and giving them greater power to confiscate students' photocards.

Stephen Knight, deputy leader of Richmond Council, claimed his campaign had been derailed by the "Boris effect'.

"We got swamped by the amount of publicity for the Mayoral race, and Boris in particular, which made it difficult for us as a third party," he said.