Hundreds of candidates battled it out for parish and town councils seats in last Thursday's election.

While much of the attention was focused on the district, borough and city council elections, the fight for grassroots politics was equally compelling, with shock results in Littlehampton, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill.

Although many rural parish councillors were elected unopposed because a dearth of candidates, the competition for places on town councils proved far more intense.

Mirroring the national results, it was a good night for the Conservatives who extended their grip on some authorities and took new councils, while the Lib Dems had an ambivalent election and Labour lost ground.

In Uckfield, the independents put in a fine performance taking almost a third of seats on the town authority.

Two councillors were elected under the Uckfield First banner - a group which believe that party politics do not belong at town council level.

Councillor Duncan Bennett, who now represents the Uckfield North ward for Uckfield First, said the success of independents proved that voters do not want party stooges at this political altitude.

He said: "We are a group who want to take away politics with a capital "p" and do our best for the town.

"We have people who are former Labour, Lib Dem and Tory activists."

Key issues in the town including the development of surrounding green spaces and the train service.

The intriguingly named Harmony Action Respect Teamwork put forward 12 candidates for the 12 seats on Hartfield Parish Council, but failed to return any councillors.

The Lib Dems held onto control of Lewes Town Council although the Greens made gains in the Lewes Castle ward, picking up another two seats.

Independent Ruth O'Keeffe, who also sits on Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council, took her seat with a landslide of more than 2,000 votes.

In Bognor the Conservatives made gains moving from one councillor to five.

The BNP put forward four candidates beating Labour into fourth place as Tony Blair's party lost its two seats in the election.

It was a bad night for Labour in Littlehampton too after a strong showing from the Tories who moved from one to six councillors.

The Lib Dems held onto their five seats, leaving the authority hung.

One of the biggest shocks of the election came in Mid Sussex where Haywards Heath fell to the Conservatives for the first time.

The Lib Dems also lost control of Burgess Hill, with six Lib Dems and six Conservatives now representing the town.

Paddy Henry, Labour councillor for Mid Sussex District Council and Haywards Heath Town Council for Bentswood, said he hoped that the switch in power would not impact on the direction of the town.

Multimillion plans have been drawn up for Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath and although there is a great deal of support for the projects, concerns remain about the 20-year contracts with private developers and the scale of the changes.

He said: "It would be a sheer betrayal of the population of Haywards Heath if there is a change in direction on the redevelopment."

The Lib Dems held onto control of Chichester City Council with 11 councillors compared to the Conservatives' six.

In Rother and Horsham, party politics do not play such a strong role in these parish councils and many of the councillors were elected without any, or very little, opposition.

Rottingdean Parish Council also returned nine councillors without an election.