THE TORIES have strengthened their position on the district council, taking a seat from a longstanding Liberal Democrat councillor.

Voters in the area also overwhelmingly rejected the alternative vote (AV) system for electing MPs, with 28,240 voting against AV and only 8,533 voting for.

38.5 per cent of voters went to the polls to choose whether they wanted to scrap the current first past the post system in favour of one in which candidates for the Westminster parliament are ranked by preference.

The results of yesterday's local elections were announced this afternoon (Friday), with 39.1 per cent of voters in the area turning out at the polls to choose who would represent them on Epping Forest District Council.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Pat Brooks was the one casualty of the day.

The Waltham Abbey North East representative, who is one of the council's longest serving members, was ousted from her seat by Conservative candidate Anne Mitchell by 647 votes to 463.

All of the other 18 seats up for election were held.

Labour councillor Peter Gode kept his Shelley seat.

In four wards a new Tory councillor replaced the incumbent Conservative.

In Epping Lindsey Sarah Packford replaced Andrew Green; Gary Waller replaced Charolotte Edwards in Lower Sheering; Ken Avey took Janet Hedges' place as Epping Hemnall councillor and in Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash Blane Judd was replaced by Paul Kestia.

Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing said: “This is great news for the Conservative party locally.

“It is the result of lots of hard working councillors listening to their constituents.”

She said the result would not lead to complacency: “Most of us will never forget what happened in 1997” (when Labour were elected to parliament in a landslide victory.)

“Large numbers of people do care about preserving our effective democratic system. I have campaigned and worked in parliament against AV for many years so I am delighted that the people have spoken and that the issue of changing the voting system is dead for the next 20 years.”