Winchester saw another brilliant turnout for its district elections this year with an average of 46% of registered voters going to the poll.

Winchester has a tradition of high percentage turnouts and this year of the 19 wards contested some saw percentages as high as 58% – including Boarhunt and Southwick, Compton and Otterbourne, and Littleton and Harestock.

In what was a close contest, the Conservatives retained control, with Leader of the Council George Beckett keeping his seat in Compton and Otterbourne. Group Leader of the Liberal Democrats Therese Evans also held her seat in Wickham.

The Conservatives did lose two seats in the St Barnabas ward and in Whiteley, to Liberal Democrat candidates Allan Mitchell and Vivian Achwal.

The party, however, gained two additional seats, with Robert Sanders taking the St Michael ward and Linda Gemmell winning Shedfield.

Commenting on the result Leader George Beckett said: "It was a tightly fought contest but I am of course delighted with the result and pleased that I can continue to serve the community.

"I will seek to continue our programme of efficiencies in running the City Council and will strive for constant improvement in the services offered to the public. We face the challenge of difficult decisions in the Local Development Framework process over the next few years and I regard it as my duty to ensure the public are involved."