Less than a third of voters made their way to the polls for the Kent County Council elections.

On Friday, hopeful candidates waited patiently at The Woodville theatre, Gravesend, as council staff totted up the voting slips the day after voters had headed to the polling stations.

As well as the three main districts in the borough, a by-election was also held for Painters Ash after the resignation of Cllr Colin Dennis.

This was the first result to come back with Lenny Rolles (Lab) becoming the new Gravesham Borough Council councillor for the ward.

He was followed by Michael Dixon (UKIP) with 382 votes and Alan Ridgers (Con) with 367.

The KCC election for the county councillor for Gravesham Rural saw Bryan Sweetland (Con) overwhelmingly voted in with 3,213 votes.

Cllr Sweetland said: “I think it was a good- fought campaign and I think I was voted in on the local issues that matter to people. My work in Gravesend will continue and build on what has already been done.”

He was followed by Douglas Christie (Lab) with 954 votes and Steven Clegg (Eng Dem) with 922.

Cllr Sweetland had previously held a seat in Gravesham East with Cllr John Cubitt (Con).

Gravesham East this time round saw Labour take control from the Conservatives with Colin Caller and Jane Cribbon elected with 3,659 and 3,581 votes respectively.

Cllr Caller said: “It’s been a pretty hard-fought campaign but thanks to all those who voted for us. We look forward to the next one, which will hopefully be a general election.”

Conservative John Cubitt lost his seat with 2,786 votes while fellow Tory Samir Jassal could only get 2,250.

In Northfleet and Gravesend West, Labour councillors Sue Howes and Narinderjit Thandi were voted in with 3,884 and 3,471 votes.

They took over from Conservative Harold Craske who managed 2,041 and Leslie Christie (Labour), who did not stand for re-election.

Turn out in Gravesham East was 29.37%. 67.11% of postal votes were returned, with 22.07% visiting the polling stations.

In Gravesham Rural it was a 31.38% overall turnout – 26.16% at the polls and 66.38% of postal votes.

In Northfleet and Gravesend West it was 26.58% overall turnout – 22.29% at the polls and 60.19% of postal votes.