Voters in Ashford and Tenterden have been asked to decide which party will control Kent County Council and who will be the next police and crime commissioner for Kent.

Results coming out of the count, being conducted at the Stour Centre, show an almost clean sweep for the Conservative Party in the borough.

Borough residents were asked to elect seven representatives to join the council yesterday.

These seven will make up almost a tenth of the 81 councillors elected to Kent County Council every four years.

Possibly the biggest upset of this year is Dara Farrell's loss to Dirk Ross by under 100 votes.

Cllr Farrell had served as the Labour Party's leader in Kent County Council.

The first result in was that of the Ashford Central division, which saw Paul Bartlett (Con) re-elected.

It continues his term as a Kent County Councillor, having already served in the authority since 2017.

An experienced local politician, Cllr Bartlett has served at ABC since 1999.

Conservatives got another boost as Clair Bell was elected for the Ashford Rural East division.

Cllr Bell, another returning KCC member, secured 57% of the cast ballots with 2878.

Second place went to Geoffrey Meaden (Green) with 858, followed by Caroline Knight (Lib) on 656 and Alan Dean (Lab) got 627.

A Conservative sweep has been stopped by Steve Campkin (Green) who achieved 45% of the vote in the Ashford East division.

This could be seen as an upset, as he was pitted against former Ashford Borough Councillor and ex-Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce director Graham Galpin.

Cllr Campkin got 1854 votes, Mr Galpin (Con) got 1428, Sojan Joseph (Lab) secured 596, Garry Harrison (Ind) had 149 and Samuel Strolz (Lib) got 136.

Steve will will serve in this role alongside his current position as a member of ABC.

An incredibly tight race saw incumbent KCC member Dara Farrell lose his Ashford South seat by less than 100 votes.

The KCC Labour leader - who got 1319 votes - was beaten by Conservative Dirk Ross, who reached 1407.

In third was Thom Pizzey (Green) on 263 and fourth was Hein Behrens with 232.

In Ashford Rural South, David Robey (Con) landed his seat with a decisive vistory.

Despite it being among the most hotly contested divisions, he came through with 61% of the ballots in his favour.

He secured 2420 votes, compared to second place Mark Silvester (Lab) on 560, Dawn Nilsson (Green) with 463, Theresa Dickens (Lib) on 376 and lastly independent candidate Jason Smith on 136 votes.

In Tenterden, Mike Hill will return to County Hall after winning by a large majority.

The OBE recipient is a familiar face at the council, having served since 2005 and featuring on the cabinet as well as chairing the authority's Police and Crime Panel.

Tenterden voters gave him 69% of their ballots, totalling 3484 votes.

Guy Pullen (Green) got the second-most with 663, then came Emma Maclennan (Lab) on 506 and Liberal Democrat Chris Grayling with 366.

Finally, in the Ashford Rural West division, the Conservative Party saw another dominant victory.

Charlie Simkins scored 3098 votes - comprising 65% - compared to nearest rival Hilary Jones (Green) who got 632 and 13%.

In third place by just 20 votes was Norma Smyth (Lab), followed by Adrian Gee-Turner (Lib on 391 and Libertarian Party Andrew Lewin with 51 votes.

Alongside the county election this year is a by-election for the borough council.

The Beaver ward vote took place after the death of Labour's Alex Ward, who sadly died in July last year from motor neurone disease.

The 31-year-old's efforts in halving global road deaths by 2030 was recognised by Prince Michael of Kent and posthumously adopted by the UN General Assembly.

All eyes were on the Labour candidate Dylan Jones - a close colleague of Alex's and Labour's candidate for the by-election.

Alex's dad David posted a tweet hoping Dylan "will be a great successor".

However Mr Ward's hopes did not turn into reality, as the Conservatives pipped Labour to the win.

Trevor Brooks gained 468 votes, followed by Mr Jones on 402, Garry Harrison (Ind) on 105, Thomas Pizzey (Green) on 70 and Jacqueline Stamp (Lib) on 64.

More results, reaction and information as we get it.

Read more: All the latest news from Ashford

Read more: All the latest news from Tenterden