Tories lose control of Brentwood Council & Lib Dems gain two new councillors

Last night saw the end of Tory rule at Brentwood Council as they were pushed into the minority by the opposition parties, led by Cllr Barry Aspinell and the Liberal Democrat team.

The low down:

• Cllr Barry Aspinell held Pilgrims Hatch with a majority of 332 over UKIP, forcing the Tories in to third place.
• Cllr Liz Cohen can be proud of retaining the Shenfield seat she took in a by-election in December 2012, holding back a fierce and targetted Tory campaign with a majority of 109 over them
• Cllr Philip Mynott won Brentwood North again, increasing his 2010 majority from 200 to 390 - the Tories again languishing in third place.
• John Newberry becomes councillor for Brentwood West, beating the Tory candidate by 62 votes.
• Jill Hubbard returns as councillor for Warley (she previously served from 2002 - 2007) after a hard fought battle with the Tory councillor of eight years, Jan Pound, with a significant majority of 259.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Brentwood First with Jo Squirrel in Ingrave, Herongate and West Horndon and for Labour's Gareth Barrett in Brentwood South.

The end result is that Brentwood Council is now made up of 18 Tories and a combined opposition of 19 councillors (11 Lib Dems, 4 Brentwood First, 3 Labour and an independent) and the council is in NOC.

However, negotiations are underway today between the opposition parties with the objective of reaching a governing agreement.