THE Conservatives kept a firm grip on all nine local seats as they strengthend their overall position on Bradford Council.

But despite now being the biggest party with 38 seats, the council is still hung.

Labour, who lost eight seats now have 29 members in the new council which also has 15 Liberal Democrats.

The extreme right wing British National Party has its first four representatives while there are three Greens and an independent on the new council.

There were no surprises in Addingham, Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale and Menston, where all Conservative councillors retained their seats in the Ilkley and Craven wards, and took all three in the new Wharfedale ward.

Anne Hawkesworth, the Environment portfolio holder who has been tipped to become the next deputy leader of the council, gained an impressive 3,775 votes when topping the poll in Ilkley.

Long-serving councillors Martin Smith, who gained 3,359 votes, and Colin Powell, who took 3,290, also regained their seats.

Liberal Democrat candidates were fourth and fifth with Richard Quayle getting 302 votes and Sam Harris 1,230.

The Craven ward, which includes Addingham, also saw the Conservatives retain all three seats. David Emmott won with 3,014 votes while Michael Kelly (2,726) and Andrew Mallinson (2,646.) were both comfortably ahead of Independent candidate Christ-opher Atkinson, with 1,408, or 8.7 per cent of the vote.

There were more than 16,000 votes cast in the ward. Addingham resident and former Deputy Lord Mayor of Bradford, David Harrison, did not stand in this year's elections.

Changes to council ward boundaries as a result of the recent Boundaries Review meant that residents of Burley and Menston this year gained their first councillors in the new Wharfedale ward.

Previous Rombalds ward councillors, Conserv-atives Dale Smith, Chris Greaves and Matt Palmer each gained more than 17 per cent of the vote.

The nearest challenger was former Ilkley parish councillor, Liberal Democrat Vernon Whelan, with 11.3 per cent of the vote. There were ten candidates in the ward, including three Labour and one Green candidate.

Bradford's entire 90 seats were up for grabs and despite early criticism of the district's first postal election, a total of 169,124 people voted, around 51 per cent of the electorate and 60,000 more people than last year.

But after the election count ended on Friday it was found that still no party had a single overall majority.

The Green Party took one extra seat in the council chamber and Bradford Council also gained its first two female Asian councillors since 1992.

Meanwhile, Bradford party leaders, along with Ilkley and Keighley MP Ann Cryer and Shipley MP, Chris Leslie, have condemned the BNP, which gained seats in the Keighley West, Wibsey, Wyke and Worth Valley wards.

Mrs Cryer said: "I am ashamed of any of my constituents who voted for the BNP. Whatever reason anyone voted for them, they should consider their position."

Mr Leslie, said he was aghast and the 'level of shame and stigma' which could now be attached to areas represented by BNP councillors.

Conservative Margaret Eaton, who is to remain leader of Bradford Council, vowed that councillors will not let the BNP councillors dominate or make progress.

Labour group leader, Ian Greenwood, said: "We will oppose their odious ideas at every opportunity. We will not be communicating with them whatsoever and want nothing to do with them."

He said the vote for the BNP was 'clearly a protest vote' and councillors have to examine the situation and listen to the voice of communities to find out why it had happened.

Liberal Democrat leader, Jeanette Sunderland, said: "The city has been making progress yet this now influences the way people outside Bradford view it."

Green group leader Martin Love added: "The politics of hate really have no place in the running of any major city, but that is all that they preach. Voters realise once these people are in that they are not good councillors they are in there just to stir up trouble."