With the results now in after an afternoon of counting, the Conservatives have once again retained their grip on County Hall.

The battle for control of Kent County Council saw 81 seats up for grabs as people went to the polls across the county yesterday. The first areas to declare results in the west of the county today were in Sevenoaks - where the Lib Dems have gained one of the seats up for election. Elsewhere, in Tonbridge the Greens took two seats from the Conservatives.

Maidstone divisions

Long-serving Eric Hotson has lost out in the Maidstone Rural South division, having been de-selected by the Conservatives last year.

Mr Hotson had represented the division - which includes Staplehurst, Sutton Valence, Chart Sutton, Boughton Monchelsea and Loose - for the past 20 years, having been first elected in 2001.

He is replaced by Lottie Parfitt-Reid (Con) who got 46% of the vote, with Mr Hotson having sat as an Independent since September. He got 31% of the vote.

It comes after, last September, the Conservative party selection panel met to consider who should stand for the party this time around.

In a secret ballot, they voted not to select Mr Hotson.

Mr Hotson, who vowed to stand as an Independent, said: "It was an immediate decision.

"When I got home, there was the message to say: 'Sorry, it's not you.'"

Ian Chittenden holds onto his Maidstone North East division for the Lib Dems.

But it is with a majority of just 2%, (1,793 votes) a drop of 11% the 2017 result.

In Maidstone Central there were two seats up for grabs today.

They were eventually split between a Conservative and a Liberal Democrat, Tom Cannon and Dan Daley respectively.

Mr Cannon won 3,484 votes, 20% of those cast, while Mr Daley took 2,880.

Former KCC leader, Paul Carter (Con) is re-elected to Maidstone Rural North after securing 3,441 votes, keeping his 53% majority he also enjoyed in 2007.

In Maidstone South, Paul Cooper (Con) has been returned with a majority of 7%, mirroring the 2017 result.

Elsewhere, Maidstone Rural East was held for the Conservatives by Shellina Prendergast with 3,884 votes, a share of 65%.

She was a comfortable winner ahead of her nearest challenger, the Green party candidate Susan Parr, who carried 18% of the ballots cast. Turnout was 40%.

Maidstone Rural West proved another comfortable Conservative hold, with Simon Webb capturing a vote share of 60% - 2,985 of the ballots cast - to win the seat.

Liberal Democrat and Green candidates, Ashleigh Kimmance and Mike Summersgill respectively, each claimed 15% of the vote. Turnout was 39%.

Tonbridge and Malling divisions

One of biggest results of the day came in the central Tonbridge ward, where two seats won by the Conservatives in 2017 both turned Green.

Between them Mark Hood and Paul Stepto captured a combined 50% of all votes cast to take the two berths up for grabs, pushing Tory candidates Michael Payne and Richard Long into third and fourth place respectively, with a combined 39% of the ballot.

Sarah Anne Hudson has won the vote for the Malling Rural East Division.

She was elected with a 51% majority, ahead of Steve Crisp (Green) who got 14%.

Cllr Anne Hudson is newly-elected with former cabinet member Matthew Balfour having been de-selected.

Conservative Sarah Virginia Hohler maintains her Malling North seat with a whooping 44% majority.

She claimed 2,757 of the 4,325 votes cast at 64%, beating off the competition from Wayne John Mallard (Lab) with 20% and Nick Stapleton (Lib Dem) 16%.

For that division, there was a 29% turnout.

Lib Dem Trudy Dean is re-elected in Malling Central with 2,979 votes, meaning she has increased her majority by 11% to reach 41%.

Andrew Kennedy, Conservative, wins the Malling North East division with a majority of 61%. He takes over from Conservative councillor Peter Homewood.

Harry Rayner (Con) holds onto Malling West. He was elected with a 50% majority, a slight rise from 2017.

Sevenoaks divisions

In Sevenoaks Town Richard Streatfeild (Lib Dem) is elected with a majority of 3%, gaining the seat from the Conservatives who had been represented by Margaret Crabtree. There were 2,969 vote for Mr Streatfeild, compared to 2,740 for Ms Crabtree.

Council leader Roger Gough (Con) retains his Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley division with 3,491 votes, a 64% share and the same share he won in 2017.

In Sevenoaks Rural South ward, Margot McArthur has been elected for the Tories with 61% of the vote, a slight decrease on the share won by the party in 2017.

Meanwhile, in Sevenoaks Rural North East, the Conservative candidate David Brazier has been re-elected, with 59% of the ballots cast.

It is a Conservative hold in Sevenoaks West too, where Nick Chard is re-elected. His majority dipped by 5% to 38% and he polled 3,224 votes.

Tunbridge Wells divisions

The Conservatives completed a clean sweep of the six available seats in Tunbridge Wells.

Cranbrook saw the re-election of Seán Holden, although his vote share did drop from 60% in 2017 to 52% this time around.

His nearest rival for these at was Nancy Elizabeth Warne, of the Tunbridge Wells Alliance, who took 23% of the ballots cast. Turnout was 40%.

Sarah Hamilton (Con) was re-elected in Tunbridge Wells Rural, but she also saw her vote share cut.

Second to her was Hugh Patterson, the Liberal Democrat candidate, who attracted 23% of the vote.

In Tunbridge Wells South, Becki Bruneau has been elected and retains the seat for the Conservatives whose 2017 victor was Catherine Rankin.

Ms Bruneau took 53% of ballots cast - 2,716 votes in all - giving a comfortable margin of victory over her Liberal Democrat challenger, Andrew Hickey.

In Tunbridge Wells East Paul Barrington-King (Con) was re-elected on an increased vote share, up to 48% from the 41% he won in 2017.

Again the closed challenger was a Liberal Democrat, Allen Lear attracting 19% of the ballots cast on a turnout of 35%.

In Tunbridge Wells North there was yet another Conservative hold, this time with Peter Oakford re-elected.

However it was a close race, with Cllr Oakford winning 2,048 votes to narrowly edge out his Labour rival, Mike Tapp, who gained 1,968 votes.

Finally, in Tunbridge Wells West, James McInroy (Con) won re-election despite a diminished share of the vote compared to 2017.

A total of 2,715 votes was enough to see him comfortably fend of the challenge from the Liberal Democrat candidate, David Osborne.

While the ballot is supposed to be about local services, this year's election was also the first major test of public opinion on the government. Four years ago, the elections took place at the start of a longer than expected journey towards Brexit.

The 2017 elections saw the Conservatives regain overall control of Kent County Council. Ukip lost every single seat that it had won in 2013.

Back then the Conservatives won 67 of the 81 seats up for grabs, giving the party a record-breaking margin of victory.

Labour had an uncomfortable election, seeing their 13 seats more than halved and ousted as the official opposition by the Liberal Democrats.

This year voters headed to the polls in the midst of a virus that has triggered three national lockdowns and the tragic deaths of tens of thousands.

Cash-strapped councils have been confronted by their worst nightmares - struggling with catastrophic declines in income, only partially reimbursed by the government.

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