VOTERS flocked to the polls as elections were held to determine the face of local government across East Lancashire.

Voters cast their ballot for councillors in Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Rossendale,and Chorley boroughs.

There are no elections this year for Ribble Valley Borough or Lancashire County Councils.

Owing to new redrawn ward boundaries the entire Blackburn with Darwen Council was up for election rather than the usual third.

This year in Blackburn with Darwen there were just 17 three-member wards and voters will choose 51 councillor instead of the previous 64 representing 23 wards. There were 112 candidates with Labour fighting for all 51 seats and the Conservatives fielding 49 hopefuls.

In Burnley 67 candidates fought 15 wards to elect one-third of its 45 councillors.

In Hyndburn 11 of the 16 wards were up for election to choose 11 of the total 35 councillors.

In Pendle, balanced on a political knife edge, 16 of the 20 wards were contested by 42 candidates.

With the current ruling Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition and the Conservatives neck and neck in terms of councillors, control of the Pendle borough could easily change hands.

In Rossendale 12 of the 14 borough wards are up for grabs.

In Chorley 17 out of 20 wards are up for election.

Counts will take place through the day.

Deputy leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, Phil Riley, said he was confident Labour would retain overall control of the borough.

But the size of the majority would be determined by a few key battlegrounds, he added.

"The Labour party in Blackburn with Darwen has knocked on a very high proportion of doors in the borough and that gives us a of people who, if they turn up to vote, will vote Labour," Cllr Riley said.

Tory group leader John Slater said turnout appeared low early in the day but good weather helped things pick up later on.

He added: "I think we are going to do reasonably well. We are hopeful that we will hold Billinge and see how Ewood goes."

Hyndburn Council leader Miles Parkinson said his first impression was that the postal turnout was low and that may be an indication that overall turnout was likely to be down on previous elections.