THERE were few surprises at Tunbridge Wells town hall last night as the

Conservatives comfortably retained control of the 48-seat borough council.

A third of those seats were contested in polls which saw turnouts, at best, of 40.35 per cent and, at worst, just 22.9 per cent. The Tories lost Rusthall to the Liberal Democrats as local man Barry Edwards

was ousted by 59 votes, but shrugged off the result to keep their grip on

power.

At the other end of the spectrum, Southborough and High Brooms Labour

councillor Ronnie Ooi scraped in by just three votes after tense recounts. He leads a Labour group of just three on the council, and faced a strong challenge in his ward from Tory Colin Bothwell.

It was another agonising moment for the Conservative, who just weeks ago found his hopes of becoming Southborough's next mayor dashed in an election mix-up.

His nomination papers for election to the town council, on which he has served for the past 10 years, went astray and prevented him from entering

the ballot. Mr Bothwell, now facing four years in local government wilderness, was

"gutted" by his double misfortune.

Counters at Southborough were so tired after several recounts to determine

the borough election result that they were stood down for the night. Returning officer Rodney Stone, chief executive of the borough council, consulted legal books before postponing town council counting until the following evening.

Election agents complained that carrying on in the morning would have meant several could not be present, and Mr Stone exercised his powers to delay the

count.

In a telling blow to Labour hopes, former group leader Ian Carvell failed in

his bid to wrest Sherwood from the sitting Conservative, Robert Mayall.

Senior Tory Roy Bullock, Cabinet portfolio holder for planning and transportation, said:"I think the low turnout helped us and caused the Labour vote to collapse.

"As for losing Rusthall, it has always been a difficult seat, and over the years has swung between all three main parties. "I was still surprised Barry Edwards didn't win, as he was the only candidate who actually lives there, but congratulations to Christopher Gillmore on his victory." Cllr Bullock easily retained his own seat in Goudhurst and Lamberhurst, some

400 votes clear of his nearest challenger and Independent, Lesley Peters.

Another Independent due to stand in the same ward, Edward La Coste, withdrew

so as not to split the no-party vote, but the move failed to bring any reward. Tory Terry Harrison's decision not to seek re-election in Park ward brought no change, with replacement candidate Sean Lockhart safely securing the blue

vote.

Liberal Democrat leader David Mills had no trouble keeping his own seat in Pembury but was dismayed by the low turnouts reported across the borough. He said:"Turnout was 44 per cent in Pembury last year, and was down to 35 per cent this year.

"Rather than simply being apathy, I think it was a positive decision by many voters to opt out, which is a far more worrying development.

"Canvassing before the election, we found many people concerned that politicians seemed to be ignoring their wishes.

"Locally they were disgruntled by the manner in which brown bin recycling had

been introduced in Tunbridge Wells, and nationally by the conduct of the war

in Iraq."

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council now has 33 Conservatives, 12 Liberal Democrats and three Labour members.