The excitement of local election night is going to be a thing of the past after council bosses decided to count votes the following day.

Voters are preparing to go to the ballot box in the local elections on Thursday, May 3.

In the past, votes were counted after the 10pm finish on polling day so a result can be delivered in the early hours of the next morning.

But Braintree Council officials have ruled it would be impractical to carry out overnight counting because of new stringent checks on postal voting to prevent fraud and the time it takes to get the postal boxes to the council's headquarters at Causeway House, in Bocking End, Braintree.

They said they are making the changes in the interests of efficiency and accuracy.

The count will begin at 11am on Friday, May 4.