Local election results - as they happened

Hello, and welcome to the Shropshire Star's local election coverage.

We'll be bringing you results from the Telford & Wrekin borough council election count, and also the results from the Welsh Assembly election in Montgomeryshire.

Reporters Wayne Beese and Paul Mannion are at the Telford count, being held at TCAT, the Telford College of Arts and Technology.

Before the election, the council had 27 Conservative members, 16 Labour members, six Liberal Democrats/Independents, four members representing the Telford & Wrekin People's Association and one vacant seat.

Anwen Evans is at the Flash Leisure Centre in Montgomeryshire for the Welsh Assembly election. The seat was held by Mick Bates for the Liberal Democrats.

Polls closed at 10pm.

***

04.00am - And that's it - a night which has seen the political landscape of Telford & Wrekin turn Labour red. The party has 33 seats, with the Conservatives on 17 and the Liberal Democrats 3.

See today's Shropshire Star for the full results and reaction

***

04.20am: Kirsty Williams retains the Brecon and Radnorshire seat in the Welsh Assembly for the Liberal Democrats

***

04.00am - Telford: Lawley and Overdale - Elizabeth Greenaway wins one seat for the Conservatives, while Roy Picken wins the other for Labour

***

03.58am - Telford: John Thompson wins Park for Labour

Dawley Magna goes to Labour. Frances Bould, Brian Duce and Clive Elliott are the succesful candidates

Donnington is won by Elizabeth Clare and Clive Mason for Labour

Ercall is won by Miles Hosken for the Conservatives

Ercall Magna won by Stephen Bentley for the Conservatives

***

03.45am - Telford: Newport South taken by Adrian Meredith for the Conservatives

Newport West: Adam Stanton wins for the Conservatives

Arleston won by Angela McClements for Labour

Brookside won by Arnold England and Jacqueline Loveridge for Labour

***

03.35am - Telford: Roy Scammell takes Newport North for the Conservatives

Nathan England, Chris Turley and Bill McClements take The Nedge for Labour

Terry Kiernan and Jacqui Seymour take Wrockwardine for the Conservatives

Malinslee won by Shaun Davies and Kuldip Sahota for Labour

Muxton won by Conservatives Nigel Dugmore and Adrian Lawrence

***

03.31am - Welshpool: Conservative Russell George is the new Assembly Member for Montgomeryshire.

His victory is greeted with loud cheers from his supporters.

***

03.25 - Telford: Stephen Burrell takes Edgmond for the Conservatives

***

03.20am - Telford: Wrockwardine Wood and Trench - two seats for labour's Shirley Reynolds and Charles Smith

Woodside - two seats for Labour's Rae Evans and Kevin Guy

Ketley and Oakengates - three seats for Labour's Hilda Rhodes, Gilly Reynolds and Amrik Jhawar

***

03.14 - Welshpool: Montgomeryshire result could be declared within the next 15 minutes as the count is running ahead of schedule.

People are watching the count from an upstairs room, and the atmosphere is becoming noticeably tenser, says Anwen. People are not saying very much.

***

03.01 - Telford: Labour's John Minor and Richard Overton take St Georges

***

03.00am - Telford: Labour's David Davies takes the Ironbridge Gorge seat

***

02.56am - Telford: Labour has gained seven seats already. The political landscape in Telford could be changing.

***

***

02.55am - Telford: Labour's Derek White and Alan MacKenzie take the two Cuckoo Oak seats

***

02.53am - Telford: Tracy Hope and Clive Mollett take the two Horsehay and Lightmore seats for the Conservatives

***

02.50am - Welshpool: Votes still being counted. It looks very close betweeen Wynn Williams and Russell George.

The candidates are looking quite anxious.

Anwen has ditched the coffee and is now on to Red Bull.

***

***

02.44 - Telford: Keith Austin, Leon Murray and Malcolm Smith take the three Hadley and Leegomery seats for Labour

***

02.40am - Telford: Ian Fletcher and Veronica Fletcher take Priorslee for the Conservatives

***

02.35am - Telford: Arnold England and Jackie Loveridge take the two Brookside seats for Labour

Paul Watling, Labour, and Gill Green, Independent, win the two seats in Madeley

***

02.20am - Telford: Robert Sloan takes Haygate for Labour

***

02.15am - Telford: The results so far - Labour has six seats, and the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have three each.

Sandwiches and Hob Nobs have been laid on by the count organisers. Reporter Paul Mannion says the Hob Nobs have already been eaten. (He sounds slightly disappointed about this.)

***

02.09am - Welshpool: Wynn Williams, the Lib Dem candidate, has arrived at the count.

***

02.07am - Welshpool: The count is about to start.

It is announced that 73 per cent of the 6,145 postal votes sent out were returned.

Anwen has grabbed a cup of coffee from reception, but Shropshire Star photographer Ian Sheppard has brought his own. He's brought his own biscuits, too. It's going to be a long night.

***

01.57am Welshpool: The provisional turn-out in Montgomeryshire for the Welsh Assembly election is 47.6 per cent.

The result should by in by 4am.

The leisure centre has laid on hot drinks for everyone attending the count. They're being served in the reception. Anwen is off to get a cup of coffee.

***

01.50 - Telford: All is calm and more results are imminent. Reporter Paul Mannion says the scene is very calm and relaxed. "There's no real atmosphere," he adds.

***

01.42- Telford: Andrew Eade, Conservative, retains Church Aston and Lilleshall

***

01.40am: Ketley: The newsroom television is tuned to the BBC for the national picture, and the boys and girls in the Beeb's over-the-top bombastic graphics department have surpassed themselves this year. Jeremy Vine has a virtual map of the country which transforms into a variety of different shapes. Honestly, it's like The Day Today never happened.

***

01.38 - Welshpool: The counting staff have just left the room for a break. They will reconvene in about 10 minutes to start the count.

Glyn Davies MP says he is "hopeful" it will be a win for Russell George. Mr Davies is sitting down at the moment, taking the weight off his crutches.

***

01.35 - Telford: College ward, Michael Ion takes the seat for Labour and Co-operative

***

01.32- Telford: Apley Castle taken by Karen Blundell for the Lib Dems

***

01.31 - Telford: Eric Carter retains Newport East for the Conservatives

***

01.22am - Telford: A good start to the night for the Lib Dems as Karen Tomlinson and Bill Tomlinson retain their seats in Dothill and Shawbirch

***

***

01.10: The turnout for the Telford & Wrekin Council elections is 42.9 per cent - about 51,600 residents have voted.

***

01.05: Anwen Evans is in the Flash Leisure Centre in Welshpool awaiting the result of the Montgomeryshire Welsh Assembly election.

There are four candidates contesting the seat, and counting is due to begin within the next half-hour.

"It's quite calm here at them moment, to be honest," said Anwen. "Three candidates have arrived: David Senior, of Plaid Cymru, Russell George, Conservative, and Nick Colbourne, Labour. Wynn Williams, the Lib Dem candidate, has yet to arrive."

Despite being on crutches following a back operation, Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies has come to the count to support Russell George, the Conservative candidate.

***

12.55am: Counting is now underway in the Telford & Wrekin borough elections. The first result had been expected at 12.30am, but the ballot box verification process took longer than expected.

Reporter Paul Mannion says the count is extremely busy, with several hundred peple milling about waiting for the results to come in.

Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard (Conservative) and Telford MP David Wright (Labour) are both on the scene.