That's it for our live coverage of the local elections in Essex.

We will bring you the rest of the county's results as they come in during the afterrnon and evening and then over the weekend via the main Essex news website.

For now, thank you and, erm, good morning.

The big story of the night in Essex was that the Conservatives took control of Harlow District Council from the Labour Party for the first time in nine years.

Labour held on to just one of the seven seats it was contesting and council leader Mark Ingall lost his seat.

He said he was "disappointed".

Southend remains in no overall control as does Colchester where the Greens gained a second seat.

The Conservatives held on to control of Thurrock Council and Rochford District Council.

Counting continues elsewhere today with results due from Basildon, Brentwood and Castle Point this afternoon and Epping Forest early this evening.

The results for Essex County Council will also come through this evening and the county's Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner is due to be announced on Saturday.

Simon Dedman
BBC Essex political reporter

Harlow was the big story of the night.

In Harlow, they lost both their control of the authority and their leader, Mark Ingall, and their former leader, Emma Toal, and they lost six of the seven seats they were defending.

A lot has been said about the 'red wall' in the north of England and how the Conservatives managed to smash through what were seen as safe Labour seats.

Well there are areas of Harlow where five years ago you would just not have expected the Tories to win, like Bush Fair, where the council leader is.

This is an extremely disappointing night for Labour in Harlow.

Image source, Google

Conservatives have held onto control of Rochford District Council, external.

Harlow MP, Conservative Robert Halfon, said he was "proud" that the Tories had seized control of the Essex district, tweeting that the authority was now under Conservative control for "only the second time in the history of our town".

Mr Halfon also offered "commiserations to the many hard-working" Labour councillors who had lost their seats.

"Whatever our significant political differences, all political parties want to build an even better Harlow and help people through Covid," he said.

The former Labour leader of Harlow Council has said he is ""disappointed" about both losing his seat and his party losing control of the authority to the Conservatives.

Labour held onto just one of the seven seats it was contesting.

Mark Ingall said: "I am proud to have served as a Labour councillor and proud to have represented Bush Fair."

Image source, Google

The Conservatives have held onto control of Thurrock Council , externaland took five seats from Independents and one from Labour.

Colchester Borough Council, external remains in no overall control.

The Lib Dems run the council in a coalition with Labour,

Of the 19 seats up for for grabs, the Lib Dems lost to the Green Party in Castle ward and Labour in both New Town and Christchurch.

The Lib Dems did, however, take Wivenhoe from Labour.

The Conservatives last won a majority in 1984.

Andrew Sinclair
BBC Look East political correspondent

The Conservatives have taken control of Harlow District Council , externalfrom Labour.

Labour held onto just one of the seven seats it was contesting.

Council leader Mark Ingall has lost his seat.

Image source, Google

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, external, a unitary authority, remains in no overall control

Of the 17 seats up for election, the Conservatives gained two seats from Independent candidates in Belfairs and Shoeburyness.

The Conservatives lost control in 2019 - losing seats to Labour, the Lib Dems and independents.

The local elections of 2019 seem a dim and distant memory but 2 May was a bad day for the Conservatives in Essex.

Not only did they fail to take control of Colchester council - their main target - their leader lost his seat to the Greens. Darius Laws, who was beaten by Green Mark Goacher, said Brexit was partly to blame for the poor showing.

The Tories also lost control of Basildon and Southend due to gains by Labour, independents and Liberal Democrats but held on to Castle Point, Brentwood and Rochford,

Essex Tory losses in May 2019:

• Basildon Council, Tendring District Council and Southend Borough Council went to no overall control as the Tories lost seats
• Maldon District Council saw a 25-seat majority slashed to just three by gains from independents
• In Tory target council Colchester, their local group leader lost his seat to the Greens
• They lost control of Chelmsford City Council to the Liberal Democrats, where they had held a 45-seat majority
• The Tories retained control of Castle Point, Rochford, Braintree, Epping, Maldon and Brentwood Councils

Andrew Sinclair
BBC Look East political correspondent

Counting proper is now under way in Harlow and the contest is said to be very close in several seats.

Labour currently runs the council but a very good night for the Tories could see them take it.

In fact, the first ward has already been declared and it's a win for the Conservatives, taking the seat from Labour.

Image source, Google

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, external is a unitary authority which looks after all the local council services, such as schools, road maintenance, bin collections, public housing and social care.

Party in power: No overall control

Seats up for election: 17

Seats on council: 51

The Conservatives lost control in 2019 - losing seats to Labour, the Lib Dems and independents.

The returning officer has told everyone at the Harlow count that the verification - counting the number of ballot papers - is complete.

The votes now being counted are in the 11 wards for the Harlow Council election and the three Harlow divisions in the Essex County Council election.

The counting of votes for the Fire, Police & Crime Commissioner for Essex will take place on Saturday.

Turnout for this election is just over 32%, the officer said.

Colchester's Charter Hall is a "hive of activity" as counting takes place for Colchester Borough Council, external, Essex County Council, external and the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex.

Results here are expected at about 04:30 BST.

Counting is under way in Southend with the first results expected shortly.

The council has announced that turnout was 33.74% which is 2% higher than the 2019 local elections.

We're not expecting the result from the Epping Forest count until Friday evening but this view in Hanger 6 at North Weald Airport is too good to miss.

Essex County Council has said it is a Douglas C-47 Skytrain (Dakota) in the background.

Deborah McGurran
BBC East political editor

At the Colchester count in Charter Hall, the Lib Dems - who run Colchester Borough Council in a coalition with Labour - appear to be under pressure.

Results here are expected at about 04:30 BST.

Residents in Chelmsford have been voting for county councillors and the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex.

Those in the Moulsham Lodge ward of the city council have also been voting in a by-election to fill a vacancy after a councillor resigned.

Simon Dedman
BBC Essex political reporter

The unitary authority in Southend should be quite interesting.

That's because the Tories could in theory take control of the council. They are currently the largest party on the council, but control is currently held by a rainbow coalition of Labour, Lib Dem and Independent members.

The other parties do not seem too interested in working with the Tories at present. But let's see whether the Independent members still feel that way once the results are in.

Image source, Southend borough Council