Jubilant Lib Dems are celebrating after taking a second seat in the traditionally safe Tory ward of Shenfield.
Liz Cohen won the seat with 728 votes, ahead of Tory Stephen May, who won 557.
The seat had been vacated following the decision by Lionel Lee to step down to look after his sick wife.
Mr Lee had last won the seat in 2010 with 1,937 votes ahead of the Liberal Democrats who polled 1,175.
The result on Thursday, December ,7 is the second election in a row that the Tory party have come unstuck in the ward that has traditionally been a safe seat for them.
Margaret Brehaut won the Shenfield seat for the Tories in 2008 with 77 per cent of the vote, but in May she was beaten by the Lib Dems' Graeme Clark, who polled 853 votes compared to her own 611.
