East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC) is now made up of only Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, with Conservatives holding the majority of the seats following today’s local elections.

After today’s count (Friday, May 5), ECDC is now made up of 15 Conservatives and 13 Liberal Democrats.

Ely Standard: The election count took place at the Ross Peers Sports Centre in Soham on May 5.The election count took place at the Ross Peers Sports Centre in Soham on May 5. (Image: Newsquest)

A by-election held at the same time for a county councillor for the Soham South and Haddenham division has meant that Cllr Bill Hunt has gained a seat on Cambridgeshire County Council.

The previous incumbent Dan Schumann was elected to the post in 2021. Cllr Hunt also retained his Stretham seat.

The big news of the day was a Lib Dem takeover for the Ely East ward after the Conservative Party lost a seat and the Lib Dems gained two.

This now means that all three Ely wards are held by the Liberal Democrats.

East Cambs Council leader Cllr Anna Bailey, who is Conservative, also retained her seat for the Downham ward.

She said it was a “fantastic result after a very hard campaign”.

She added: “I think we have worked incredibly hard at the district council for four years delivering what we knew that people wanted.

READ MORE: East Cambridgeshire Local Elections 2023 - Conservatives hold majority

“We’ve frozen council tax for 10 years now at East Cambridgeshire. “We’ve kept on with the free car parking - we know that’s really important to people.

“People hate the proposals around the Cambridge congestion charge, they are fed up with the county council’s state of the roads.

“But we have pumped millions into community projects over the last four years that people wanted to see. It’s what we promised to do.”

She added that, although today’s turnout was better than it has previously been, “it’s never where you want it to be at a local level - but at least it’s gone up, which is good.”

Also elected on the day was Conservative Party member Lucius Nico Vellacott, 18, who won the Soham South seat as the youngest district councillor in the country and “ran a fantastic campaign”, according to Cllr Bailey.