THERE were celebrations from the Conservatives at the town's Abbey Stadium after the party has taken over leadership of Redditch Borough Council.

The party secured its victory after gaining four seats.

Labour lost two and UKIP lost its last councillor in the authority.

The result means Labour has lost control of its last council in the county while Worcester City Council remains under no overall control.

The Tories won seven of the 10 seats up for election, giving them 17 seats on the council.

Labour's three seats saw its total fall to 12.

A surprise victory for the Tories was Church Hill where Mike Rouse beat long-standing Labour councillor Nina Wood-Ford - by just one vote.

Elsewhere Batchley and Brockhill saw the Conservatives take control over Labour with Gemma Monaco winning.

Leader of the Conservatives councillor Juliet Brunner said she was "absolutely delighted" and "thrilled" to take control of Redditch Borough Council.

"We were quietly confident we would win," she said.

"We worked damn hard for it."

Redditch MP Rachel Maclean praised her fellow Conservatives saying it was a really good result - and one that had been about local not national issues.

Former leader of the council Labour councillor Bill Hartnett said he was disappointed with the result.

He said: "I was disappointed for Nina who lost Church Hill by one vote - she would have been mayor this year.

A surprisingly upbeat cllr Hartnett admitted: "I came in thinking we had won. We fought a solid campaign.

"I am disappointed we lost the council but we're not going away. We will be back next year to regain control of Redditch Council."