The local election results were clearly strong ones for the Conservative Party but whether they were strong enough to warrant four articles - one on the front page, two on Page 6 and a further one on Page 7 - is something I would contest.

If you look a little deeper under the headline results that first past the post will always give to a dominant party, the results for the local Conservative Party, although good, were not as impressive as they first seem.

Also if you look at the council results in two of our district’s largest communities, a slightly different picture emerges.

In Buckhurst Hill, the majority on the parish council changed from Conservative to Green (making Buckhurst Hill one of the very few councils in the country where the Green Party actually has a majority). Surely this was worth a mention in your election coverage?

In Loughton the winning seven Loughton Residents Association District Council candidates received a total of 4,943 votes whilst the seven Conservative Party candidates received 1,847 votes - not a particularly strong performance by the dominant political force here in Epping Forest.

Headline results don’t always give the full picture and didn’t deserve the four-article spread the Conservative Party here in Epping Forest received.

Stephen Murray

Roding Ward Independent Town and District Councillor