The Liberal Democrats were wiped out from the Epping district after losing their only seat to the Tories last night.

In a close fought battle, leader of the district council, Conservative Cllr Chris Whitbread won the Epping and Theydon Bois seat with 2,419 votes, wrangling it from Liberal Democrat candidate Jon Whitehouse, who got 2,275.

Yesterday's result now means there is not a single Lib Dem on the Tory majority council.

Mr Whitehouse said: “The Conservatives threw everything at the campaign. Congratulations to the winner. I will get back on the saddle and carry on working for the people.”

There was a mixture of low and high turnout across some wards, with 38 per cent in Epping and Theydon Bois and 22.4 in Chigwell and Loughton Broadway.

The other results went as expected, with Tories winning all seats apart from in Loughton Central, where the opposition party is Loughton Res Association (LRA).

A spokesman for the LRA said: “We are delighted that Cllr Chris Pond increased his share of the vote to a fraction under 70 per cent. Chris works very hard for residents and we are very grateful to them for supporting us at the election.”

Conservative Ricki Gadsby held her seat in Waltham Abbey. She was “so happy” to have won 2,283 votes and was “hoping to win.”

Gagan Mohindra took over from John Knapman in the Chigwell and Loughton Broadway seat.

Conservative Valerie Metcalfe held her seat in Buckhurst Hill and Loughton South with 2,742 votes.

Anthony Jackson held his seat in North Weald and Nazeing, running away with 3,081 votes.

The Conservatives rounded off their majority after Maggie McEwen won with 2,336 votes.