THERE was little surprise in Romsey with the no change in the four seats which were up for election.

Both Conservatives and Liberal Democrat held on to their seats although UKIP saw an increase in the number of votes but were still unable to steal anything from any of the veteran councillors.

It looked to be a tight fight in the Romsey Extra ward between two of Hampshire's most experienced politicians with current education chief Roy Perry beating former Romsey MP Sandra Gidley by a margin of 143 votes.

Cllr Perry thanked the people who came out to vote for him. “I knew it was going to be a close contest, I needed to be sure that I could get the votes,” he said, adding that Hampshire is “a great county and I think it's had a good council”.

Local politics stalwart Alan Dowden held his seat in the Baddesley ward despite being unable to canvas for votes after he was involved in a minor car accident.

He got nearly 1,000 votes more than his nearest rival, Tory candidate Roger Curtis.

“I'd like to thank the electorate for keeping me here in the council for over 21 years. I look forward to continuing the work that I do on the council,” he said.

In the Test Valley Central ward it was UKIP's Michael Wigley who put up the fiercest fight but was still 1,800 votes away from taking conservative candidate Andrew Gibson's place at county hall.