The Conservative, who runs the post office on Grange Park, last night polled more than twice as many votes as his nearest rival.

Coun Collins received 977 votes compared to 448 for Mr Fisher, the former Labour group leader, and 218 for BNP candidate Les Joy.

UKIP candidate Colin Porter and Liberal Democrat Susan Close failed to break out of double figures.

Coun Collins is the first Conservative to represent the ward – a traditional Labour stronghold – for more than 20 years.

With a beaming smile across his face, the new Blackpool councillor said: "This was a brilliant result and I'm so grateful to the people across the community who have voted for me.

"We have fought a strong, positive campaign and have tried to encourage more people to get involved with us on the big issues in our area."

Tory council leader Peter Callow added: "This is a huge result for the Conservative party and personal victory for Peter who is a fantastic candidate.

"I think a lot of people in Blackpool will see this as a massive vote of confidence in the Conservative administration and our policy of trying to clean up the resort.

"I don't think there has been a Conservative representative in Park ward since as long as I can remember and this may indicate a major shift of public opinion."

A disappointed Mr Fisher, who was praised by Coun Collins for his campaign, said: "Clearly we're disappointed.

"It's a difficult result for us and a bad result obviously for Labour. I think it's a lot to do with the current climate as regards to the national picture."

However, he refused to be drawn on whether he would make another bid to get back on to the council.

"That's not up to me," he said. "It's up to the electorate and the Labour party locally if they wish to choose me to be a candidate, but I'm very happy to continue to fight hard for the Labour party."

The by-election was held following the death of former Labour councillor Les Kersh, who died in April.