2am update: There were some strong gains for Labour in the Peterborough City Council elections.
It had been a controversial polling day with police making three arrests in connection with alleged electoral malpractice.
But at the count there were celebrations for Labour who took six seats.
Nazim Khan held Central Ward for Labour and the party celebrated as Ann Sylvester took Bretton North, Jo Johnson took East, Nicholas Thulbourn took Fletton and Woodston, Lisa Forbes took Orton Longueville and John Knowles won Paston.
Overall the Conservatives lost five seats they had controlled at the last election which were Bretton North, Fletton and Woodston; Orton Longueville; Werrington South and Paston.
But they retained Eye and Thorney; Barnack; Glinton and Wittering; Orton Waterville; Orton with Hampton; Park; Ravensthorpe; Stanground Central; and West.
It means out of the twelve seats they held this morning they now have nine.
The Liberal Democrats held Walton and gained Werrington South.
Independent John Fox held on to his Werrington North seat and Liberal Adrian Miners won in Dogsthorpe.
The overall turnout across the contested wards was 30.68 per cent.
The most nail-biting count saw Tory David Day lose Paston to John Knowles (Labour) by nine votes.
Meanwhile Irene Walsh retained Stanground Central from Labour’s Ron Graves by just 18 votes.
Cllr Nick Sandford was the first winner declared as he polled 718 votes beating Rachel Day (CON) with 286 and Sue Johnson (LAB) with 238.
Labour’s Nick Thulbourn won Fletton and Woodston ousting Fran Benton.
Independent John Fox retained Werrington North with a landslide win and Tory Gul Nawaz held on to Ravensthorpe.
John Holdich won a comfortable victory in Glinton and Wittering for the Conservatives and the Gavin Elsey held Orton Waterville for the Tories.
Meanwhile city superintendent Dan Vajzovic has confirmed that three arrests have been made today, with the first at 9am in Central Ward when a man was arrested on suspicion of impersonating a voter.
Two more people were arrested this evening near polling stations in Searjeant Street and Harris Street, also in the Central Ward: A 17-year-old boy on suspicion of attempting to vote underage and another man on suspicion of aiding and abetting that attempt.
A further five appeals for information have been issued: Three for impersonating voters at stations in Gilpin Street, Gladstone Street and Harris Street; and another two for proxy voting at unspecified locations.
The polls closed at 10pm on what has been a wet day for city voters, with 19 ward seats up for election, find your ward - www.peterborough.gov.uk.
The first ballot box to arrive at 10.08pm came from the Park Ward.
Gillian Beasley, the council’s returning officer, said: “It’s important that people use their vote and have their say in who represents them on the city council. Councillors make important decisions that effect everyone, every day of their life and the local elections are part of that democratic process.
“I would urge anyone who has a vote to use it and make their mark in Peterborough.”
You can follow updates from Town Hall from around 8pm on our live blog www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/elections, where you can find your polling station and also a comprehensive spotlight on all 68 candidates.
Join the conversation, add #pboroVote to your Twitter comments.
