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Labour has re-taken control of Haverhill Town Council for the first time since 2003, thanks to the absence of one Conservatice councillor who was on holiday for the annual meeting last night.

After Thursday's elections there were seven Labour and seven Conservative members, with two seats unfilled and up for co-option at the next meeting.

Labour and Conservative groups both proposed one new member for co-option, but the Labour group also proposed a second one, so a vote was required.

New Conservative councillor David Fowle was not present because he was on holiday, which meant Labour were able to win the vote, and co-opt two Labour members, Roger and Diana Andre, giving them a majority of 9-7 on the council.

Members had already unanimously elected Cllr Maureen Byrne as the new town mayor to chair the meeting, but when, after the co-options, the Conservative group proposed current deputy mayor Cllr Les Ager to continue in the role, Labour put forward another candidate, Cllr Pat Hanlon, who was elected on the vote.

The membership of all the council committees was then calculated according to the political balance of the council, which gave Labour the majority to elect Labour chairs to all but one committee.

The new chairs are: leisure and arts Cllr Lisa Carr; community first Cllr Gary Stroud; personnel Cllr Maureen Byrne; appeals Cllr Bryan Hawes (the only Conservative); planning Cllr Pat Hanlon. The mayor chairs the finance committee.

The councilalso had to nominate three members to the new One Haverhill Board, which is replacing Haverhill Partnership.

Labour nominated three and the Conservatives one, and all three Labour members were voted in.

Cllr Byrne thanked the outgoing town mayor Elaine McManus, who stood down at the recent elections, saying she had led the council through 'very corageous decisions' to protect and support the vulnerable in Haverhill.

Cllr Hanlon thanked Cllr Ager for his tireless work as deputy mayor.

The council had been almost entirely made up of Labour members before the 2003 elections, when The Haverhill Representative Alliance, led by Mabon Dane, stormed to victory.

But the group collapsed rapidly and it was Conservative councillors who picked up the pieces and gained a large majority in the 2007 elections.

Then the Conservative group split during its term, with Margaret Marks leaving to become an Independent, and standing down at these elections.

Also standing down were three Conservatives who serve on the borough council, Cllr Anne Gower, Cllr Karen Richardson and Cllr Paul McManus, as well as the mayor for the past two years, Elaine McManus.

Ironically, at a civic service at St Mary's Church on Sunday to welcome the new councillors, both Mrs McManus, in her valedictory remarks, and town clerk Gordon Mussett, in his tribute to her work, emphasised the fact that politics were not central to the town council's work.