THE CONSERVATIVE Party strengthened its grip on the council by gaining three key seats in Thursday's elections.

Of the 22 seats up for grabs across Epping Forest, the Tories won 12, the Loughton Residents Association (LRA) seven and The Greens, Liberal Democrats and Independents one-a-piece.

The biggest positive for those wearing blue will be the gain of Buckhurst Hill West by Jo Share-Bernia from Conservative turned Independent Sylvia Watson and Basil Vaz’s snatch of the vacated Chippar Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash seat.

UKIP’s lone councillor Rod Butler was removed from his Waltham Abbey Honey Lane seat by Conservative’s David Stocker and Steven Heather, also filling a vacated Tory seat.

Council leader Christ Whitbread said: “It has been a very good night for the Conservatives.

“We are building on what we have been doing. We have a good record of open, low tax government.

“We work hard for a lot of people.”

Cllr Gavin Chambers, deputy chairman political of the district's Conservative Association, echoed his thoughts, adding: "Epping Forest Conservative are absolutely delighted with the local council elections.

"Three gains and no losses. The residents of Epping Forest have clearly spoken once again that the Conservatives are doing a fantastic job for our residents on all levels off government."

The Conservatives now hold a commanding 39 of 58 seats on the district council and individual councillors - such as Darshan Sunger in Chigwell scoring 77 per cent of the vote and Lower Naeing’s Yolanda Knight with 69 per cent – intimidating vote shares.

Others in Debden Park High School’s sports hall had smiles on their faces once all the votes had been counted however.

Independent Stephen Murray won his nineteenth election with the night’s highest percentage share of 82 per cent.

The LRA held all seven of their seats up for contention while keeping the Conservatives at arms lengths in their wards, most scoring 60 to 70 per cent of the vote to the Conservative’s 20.

Although they again failed to win a seat on the council, the Labour contingent (below) was out in full force and jubilant about the night’s proceedings.

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The party’s vote share was upped by about 50 per cent across the district compared to last year, with Grange Hill candidate Kay Morrison pushing finance portfolio holder Gagan Mohindra relatively hard in gaining 447 votes to his 803.

“I feel very pleased with that,” she said.

“It is more than I could have hoped for. It represents the amount of work that has been going into the campaign. This is just the beginning.”

Mitch Diamond-Conway, who came third in Waltham Abbey and is Labour’s party secretary in Epping, added: “We are back and we are showing there is no where in Epping we won’t compete for.”

The Liberal Democrats had a decent night, with two candidates falling short by a few dozen votes and Cllr Janet Whitehouse comfortably re-elected to Epping Hemnall with a 61 per cent share.

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Liberal Democrats Jon and Janet Whitehouse.

Cllr Janet Whitehouse said: "I'd like to thank all the residents who expressed their confidence in me and re-elected me with such a big majority.

"I will continue to campaign to keep a sports centre in Epping. I will work with Councillor Jon Whitehouse to combat the Conservatives’ unsustainable Local Plan proposals for Epping, which are due to be considered by the government’s inspector later this year.

"Speeding traffic is a concern for many residents and I will continue to be an active member of Community Speedwatch and to encourage other residents to take part. Where the Speedwatch teams go out regularly they are an effective deterrent to speeding drivers."

Cllr Steven Neville was the Green’s sole winner, with 69 per cent of the vote in Buckhurst Hill East.

Speaking of proposals to bulldozer a row of shops and replace them with flats in Buckhurst Hill, he said: “I want to make the Conservative’s think again about the Lower Queens Road site in the Local Plan.

“It is a plan that will affect people’s homes and lives.”

The night was significant for the Conservative Party for another reason.

Chairman of the council David Stallan stood down after 19 years on the council, making way for Tory Peter Bolton to take his North Weald Bassett seat.

Looking back at his time in office, Cllr Stallan said: “The biggest moment for me was when I was housing portfolio holder and for the first time in 30 years we started building council houses.

“I saw them opened as chairman this year.

“I am so proud of that.”