The Conservatives have officially retained their majority of the seats on Devon County Council – with some results still to come in.

But the Dawlish seat has been won by Liberal Democrat Martin Wrigley – the seat had previously been Conservative.

He gained 1,920 votes, while the Conservative candidate, Noel Nickless, gained 1,818.

All 60 seats were up for grabs.

Previously, the Conservatives had 41 seats, Labour and the Liberal Democrats each had six, there were four Independents, one Green Party councillor, one from the East Devon Alliance, and one North Devon Liberal.

The Liberal Democrats currently have nine seats – a gain of three – making them the official opposition party.

The Conservatives have 34, Labour seven, and three are Independent.

The Green candidate has held the Totnes & Dartington seat.

Results are still being awaited from Whimple & Blackdown, and Sidmouth.

Two wards, Exmouth and Broadclyst, each with two councillors, will not begin counting until Saturday morning, so the final results won't be known until then.

In response to his party's gains, Cllr Alan Connett, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said:

"I am delighted that we gained three seats but we do have a job of work to do holding the Conservatives to account. It is a tired administration at County Hall and won't be much change, so our job will be to promote to the people of Devon the things that are important, fixing the roads, mending children's services, the economy, how we recover from Covid. What I want is a willingness from the Conservatives to work together on mending Devon's economy.

"This is part of the journey back. We knew it would be a long haul and we are up for the fight and we are up to work with the administration when they have sensible ideas which are good for the people of Devon. But they haven't fixed the roads and for eight long years children's services have been inadequate and it has got to stop."