LABOUR leader Alan Rhodes looked visibly upset when the Mansfield South result came in and an overall win in the area looked unlikely.
His party lost one councillor in that ward, Chris Winterton, to the Mansfield Independent Forum.
He said: "We have lost a very good councillor in Chris Winterton and it is a blow."
Apart from that ward, Labour took a clean sweep of the Mansfield wards, gaining seats from the Independent Forum.
In Mansfield East Labour candidates Alan Bell and Colleen Harwood received 1,801 and 1,631 votes respectively totalling a majority of 35.9 per cent of the vote.
Labour came away with 50.8 per cent of the total vote in Mansfield North with Joyce Bosnjak claiming 2,443 votes and Parry Tsimbiridis taking 2,008.
ACROSS the border in Derbyshire, Labour also took control of the county council.
The party went from having 23 councillors on the authority before the elections to 43, while the Tories plummeted from 31 to 18 and the Liberal Democrats from seven to three. In Erewash, there were nine seats up for grabs.
Labour held three seats in Ilkeston and held the Long Eaton seat. The Tories held seats in Breadsall and West Hallam and Breaston and gained a seat in Sawley. Labour gained a seat in Petersham and Sandiacre remained Conservative.
THE Newark area has traditionally been a place of strong Conservative support at the county council, and this didn't really change .
However, one big shock was the loss of Collingham to independent Maureen Dobson.
The Tory candidate David Payne saw his share of the vote drop by 34.1 per cent to get just 936 votes compared to Mrs Dobson's 1,237.
ONLY Tuxford and Misterton stayed Tory blue as Labour gained three seats from the Tories in the far north of Notts.
The husband and wife team of Wendy and Mike Quigley lost their seats in Retford East and West respectively to Labour candidates Ian Campbell and Pamela Skelding.
Ukip performed well in the district, with the party achieving more than 20 per cent of the vote in most areas.