The Conservatives have lost three seats at the Colchester Council elections.

The final declarations were made this afternoon, by which time the Lib Dems had won ten of the seats at the borough council elections, with the Tories taking eight, and Labour's Julie Young and Highwoods Group candidate Gerard Oxford both retaining their seats.

This meant the Lib Dems gained three seats, taking their number of borough councillors to 26, making them the biggest party on the council.

The Tories lost three seats, reducing their number to 24, while Labour and the Highwoods Group stayed the same on seven and three seats respectively.

The only sitting councillor to lose their seat was Gaye Pyman, who was defeated in the contest to represent Stanway.

The Conservative councillor polled 1,726 votes, but lost out to Colin Sykes, who polled 1,991 votes for the Liberal Democrats to take the seat.

The Tories also lost Berechurch and Mile End to the Liberal Democrats. Both seats had been held by councillors who had decided to step down at yesterday's elections.

Twenty of the council's 60 seats were contested this year by 83 candidates when voters went to the polls yesterday.

Overall, 65.3 per cent of the electorate voted and the highest turnout was in Pyefleet where 74.6 per cent went to the polls.

This saw the closest contest, where veteran local politician Terry Sutton won Pyefleet for the Conservatives with 699 votes, just 18 ahead of Lib Dem rival James Raven.

The lowest was in St Andrew’s where only 47.9 per cent voted - less than half of residents aged 18 or over.

Familiar faces voted back on to the council included: Conservative group leader Kevin Bentley; the borough's next mayor, Sonia Lewis; Lib Dems Bill Frame, Nick Cope, Mary Blandon, Theresa Higgins, Lyn Barton, Mike Hogg and Ray Gammble; and Tories Christopher Arnold, Sue Lissimore, John Elliott, Dennis Willetts and John Jowers.

A coalition of Liberal Democrat, Labour and Highwoods Group councillors is currently in power.

For the latest results, click here