THE parties suffered mixed fortunes as the political landscape of Colchester was changed during the local elections.

Labour narrowly missed a chance to add to its number of seats, but Julie Young managed to hang on to her seat in St Andrew’s by 215 votes.

Mrs Young said: “It’s a difficult year to be defending a seat for Labour, but Greenstead people did me proud again and stayed loyal to Labour.”

Fellow Labour candidate Chris Pearson lost by 311 votes to Liberal Democrat Colin Mudie, in Berechurch, despite a targeted campaign. Mr Pearson, a former Essex County Council leader, lost in the same ward in 2002, but was flagged up as a potential win after the Tories decided not to field a replacement for predecessor, Terry Sutton. Mr Sutton defected from the Lib Dems to the Conservatives after the last election, and this time stood for Pyefleet.

Mr Pearson said: “I think it’s a disappointing result, especially given the hard work we have put in.”

It was a disappointing evening for the Conservatives, whose win of just eight seats prevented them taking control of the council.

At about noon on Friday, returning officer Adrian Pritchard took to the stage to announce Pyefleet was too close to call and would be recounted.

It had been held by former Conservative council leader Robert Davidson until his recent retirement from politics.

In the end Terry Sutton won it, ahead of Lib Dem James Raven, by a mere 18 votes. In Prettygate, shadow cabinet member Sue Lissimore held her seat by just 164 votes, and said issues, including the epic debate about whether Philip Morant School should get an access road, were overshadowed by national issues, such as immigration.

She said: “In the past four years, we have made Prettygate a much better place, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.

“We have got to keep up the fight against graffiti, antisocial behaviour and traffic congestion, and I’m really appreciative I’ve been given the opportunity to carry on.”

Elsewhere, Matt Eaton received the backing of 1,516 Mile End residents, but still lost by more than 1,000 votes to Lib Dem Scott Greenhill.

The Tories did record comfortable victories for group leader Kevin Bentley in Birch and Winstree, his deputy Dennis Willetts in West Bergholt and Eight Ash Green, and Christopher Arnold in Fordham and Stour. The rejuvenated Lib Dems welcomed back two old faces, with former leader Colin Sykes taking back the Stanway seat he lost to Conservative Gaye Pyman four years ago, and Bill Frame taking the Castle seat left vacant after fellow Lib Dem Chris Hall’s retirement.

An injection of fresh blood for the party came in Mile End where Scott Greenhill comfortably won the seat vacated by Conservative Nick Taylor. He follows in the footsteps of Mile End councillor Martin Goss, who swept aside then Tory Brian Jarvis in 2008.

He said the party’s stance on overdevelopment in the rapidly growing former village had struck a nerve with the voters.

He added: “I’m ready to continue to work hard to either stop the development or reduce it.”

Elsewhere, there were comfortable holds for the likes of Mike Hogg in St Anne’s, Ray Gamble in St John’s, Mary Blandon in Harbour and Nick Cope in Christ Church.