The Conservatives have officially taken control of Lincolnshire County Council with 54 seats to their name.

The party's final seat on Tattershall Castle was held by Councillor Tom Ashton.

The number is the same as the party went into the election with, however, down by four on the 2017 election results due to some party members leaving.

The final results also see the council made-up of:

Five Independents (up one)

Four Labour councillors (down two)

Three Liberal Democrats (up two)

Three South Holland Independents (new party – up three)

One Lincolnshire Independent (no change)

Following the results announcement, Conservative Council Leader Martin Hill said: "That's a very strong result.

"I'm very pleased with the result, which nearly matches the excellent result we had four years ago.

"We have an ambitious manifesto for the future. It's all about continuing to provide good services, keeping council tax low, and an ambitious building programme for the future – not just new roads and bypasses, also new schools, better broadband across the county, and many other initiatives which we want to bring forward.

"We're going to continue to ask for more powers from government and also for more money for things like road maintenance, which was probably the most dominant theme of this election. We've always prioritised road maintenance but I think we need more help from government to continue the good work.

"We'll do our very best for you over the next four years."

The turnout for the election was 31%, compared to 31.98% in 2017. There were 179,165 votes in total out of 569,480 registered voters. 1,314 votes were spoiled.

Conservative: 98,570

Labour: 31,240

Independent candidates: 18,370

Lincolnshire Independents: 5,439

Liberal Democrats: 9,104

South Holland Independents: 4,937

Green: 3,942

Skegness Urban District Society: 2,383

For the People not the Party: 558

Other: 3,308 43 councillors are returning, and 27 councillors are new. The first result – Stamford East – came in at 10.08am on Friday 7 May. The last result – Tattershall Castle – came in at 3.45pm. It saw Councillor Hill joined by several of his counterparts on the district level with Boston leader Councillor Paul Skinner holding his seat, while Tory district leaders Richard Wright of North Kesteven and Kelham Cooke of South Kesteven were also elected to the authority. Results from South Kesteven can be found in more detail here. View the full results, including detailed figures and swing for each division, at www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/elections.