TUNBRIDGE Wells stayed true to the blues on Thursday night as the Conservatives snatched two seats from the Liberal Democrats and kept a firm grip on power.

The blow was all the harder for the Liberal Democrats to take as one of the seats lost had been held since last year by their youngest councillor, 23-year-old Thomas Symondson, who was convincingly toppled by the Conservative candidate Michael Tompsett in the Pembury ward.

In St John’s, Christopher Woodward defeated the Liberal Democrat candidate Lesley Herriot in a contest where the incumbent Cllr Alfred Baker did not stand.

The two Conservative gains make the party ever more secure in their dominance of the council, with 38 out of 48 seats in Tory hands.

Cllr Melvyn Howell (Con), leader of the council, said: “I’m very pleased and encouraged by what’s happened this evening.

“When you already hold 36 of the 48 seats it’s harder to win more, but that we have done, and it clearly reflects the support of the electorate across the board.

“Whilst the trend in national politics will have had a significant effect, the electorate is clearly comfortable with the progress the council is making.

“Our candidates and our councillors have worked extremely hard to achieve the results that they have and I pay tribute to them.”

Cllr Howell said he was particularly pleased with the result in Pembury, which the Tories came close to winning in a by-election last year.

He also highlighted the gain in St John’s, and an increased majority in Southborough and High Brooms, adding that he was also pleased with the result in Sherwood ward.

“To think we have three Conservative councillors representing a ward which is dominated by the largest former council estate in Tunbridge Wells is a message to our leaders nationally that anything is winnable,” said Cllr Howell.

Alan Bullion, chairman of Tunbridge Wells Liberal Democrats and unsuccessful candidate for Sherwood, said the night had been “mixed”.

“We were disappointed by a couple of results,” said Mr Bullion.

“We lost our very young councillor who had been working extremely hard for the people of Pembury, but he will be back.”

Mr Bullion said the Tories had capitalised on the collapse of the Labour vote nationally.

He added: “Liberal Democrats as a local party need to reflect on our efforts as well.

“We will learn from this result.

“We have excellent candidates and I am sure that even those who lost something will be back to fight in the future.”