ONLY around a quarter of those eligible to vote in the local elections in Andover took the trouble to visit the polling stations on 1 May.

The results hardly changed the political landscape and left the Conservatives still firmly in control of the authority.

The only real surprise of the evening was the length of time taken to declare the final result in St Mary's ward when at 1.55am, after several recounts, the three seats were declared in favour of the Liberal Democrats.

Conservative MP Sir George Young took a close interest in the campaign and pointed to the closeness of the vote in the Alamein and St Mary's ward.

"In both wards we now have a strong base for winning next time round," he said.

Liberal Democrat leader Robin Hughes said his party had won all its target seats here and in the Romsey area and he was pleased that the party had retaken the Alamein seat vacated by UKIP's Garry Rankin-Moore.

After a good showing in the 2001 General Election Labour hopes were dashed in these council elections.

"There was a low turnout and that is never good news for us," said Labour's Michael Mumford.

He said Labour's position on the war in Iraq had hit his party's support locally.

UKIP failed to win a seat but party spokesman Roger Wilson said there had been increased support for the party's candidates this time - particularly in Penton Bellinger where Derek Rumsey had gained 240 votes.

In the villages the turnout was generally higher and the Conservatives suffered a setback in King's Somborne where Independent candidate David Bidwell edged out the Conservative by just seven votes. Almost all wards have been subject to boundary changes since the last borough election.

State of the parties: Conservatives 30, Liberal Democrats 16, Independents 2.