Polls close in council and PCC elections

A third of seats were up for election on Broxbourne Borough Council

Polls have closed to elect new councillors in parts of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire - as well as local police and crime commissioners (PCCs).

The elections will decide who sits on Milton Keynes City, North Herts and Stevenage Borough Councils and who serves as PCCs in three areas.

A third of seats on Broxbourne Borough Council, Three Rivers District Council, Watford Borough Council and Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council are also up.

Polling stations closed at 22:00.

People will also be able to vote for a PCC for Thames Valley, covering Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire.

The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire PCC were also up for election.

Constituents needed photo ID to vote.

Four candidates are standing in Bedfordshire: Waheed Akbar (The Workers' Party of Britain), current commissioner Festus Akinbusoye (Conservative), Jabir Singh Parmar (Liberal Democrat) and John Tizard (Labour).

In Hertfordshire, commissioner David Lloyd (Conservative) is standing down, with Jonathan Ash-Edwards on the ballot for the Conservatives, alongside Matt Fisher (Greens), Tom Plater (Labour) and Sean Prendergast (Liberal Democrat).

Thames Valley has five candidates: current commissioner Matthew Barber (Conservatives), Tim Bearder (Liberal Democrat) Russell Fowler (Independent), Ben Holden-Crowther (More Police Officers for Thames Valley) and Tim Starkey (Labour).

The successful candidates will hold four-year terms.

PCCs must ensure police forces function effectively, but do not run these organisations themselves.

They hold them to account and scrutinise their performances on behalf of the public.

Chief constables are appointed by PCCs and they can dismiss them, if necessary.

It is also their job to set the annual budgets for their force and decide the level of the slice of council tax dedicated to police funding, known as the police precept.

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