Colchester stays in no overall control
Conservatives take Harlow from Labour
Southend remains in no overall control
Image source, GoogleHarlow District Council, external is responsible for services like bin collections, parks, public housing and local planning applications.
Party in power: Labour
Seats up for election 13
Seats on council: 33
Other public services are controlled by Essex County Council , externalwhich covers a wider area.
Simon Dedman
BBC Essex political reporter
Harlow is a classic red-blue bell-weather ding dong council.
Labour has a pretty good majority on that council and on the face of it you would think it would be quite hard to lose there.
But on the county council elections last time around, the Conservatives took all the Harlow seats up for grabs.
It is definitely one of the Essex councils to keep an eye on.
Image source, GoogleCastle Point Borough Council, external is responsible for services like bin collections, parks, public housing and local planning applications.
Party in power: Conservatives
Seats up for election: 13
Seats on council: 42
The Conservatives dominate most areas of Castle Point but Independents could hold the Canvey Island wards.
Other public services are controlled by Essex County Council, external which covers a wider area.
Image source, GoogleColchester Borough Council, external is responsible for services like bin collections, parks, public housing and local planning applications.
Party in power: No overall control
Seats up for election: 19
Seats on council: 51
The Conservatives last won a majority in 1984.
Other public services are controlled by Essex County Council , externalwhich covers a wider area.
On Thursday, people across Essex cast their ballots in elections for the county council, several district and borough councils and two unitary authorities.
Local authorities are funded from a variety of sources including council tax, government grants and other income, like parking charges.
The BBC looked at how a representative £100 of your money is spent by Essex County Council.
At the count for Southend-on-Sea, the ballot boxes have arrived and verification is taking place before the count begins.
In Southend, residents have been voting for representatives for Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex.
Southend has a unitary authority which looks after all the local council services such as schools, road maintenance, bin collections, public housing and social care.
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Andrew Sinclair
BBC Look East political correspondent
I'm in Harlow tonight where it is very different to a normal count. Everyone is wearing masks and are social distancing.
The staff at the count were briefed
Then the count began
In Harlow, residents have been voting for representatives for Harlow District Council, external, Essex County Council, external and the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex.
Results are expected here at about 03:00 BST.
Katy Lewis
BBC News Online
One of the polling stations in Colchester on Thursday morning
Welcome to our live page for the 2021 local election results for Essex.
We will be bringing you the results as they come in overnight.
Most of the counts this year will be done on Friday and over the weekend, but overnight we are expecting results for the district council polls in Colchester, Harlow and Rochford and unitary council elections in Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock.
In England, Thursday saw elections for 143 councils, mayors in 13 areas and 39 police and crime commissioners.
Here isa very simple guideto all the different elections so you know what is happening in your area and across the country.