CONSERVATIVE leader Mike Bawden vowed to push on with the party's regeneration and privatisation agenda after the Tories tightened their grip on the council.

The ruling party picked up five seats at the council election, giving it a majority of 40 within the 59-seat chamber.

Three seats came at the expense of the Labour Party.

The other two came from the Liberal Democrats.

Coun Bawden, who will today hand over the reins to Coun Roderick Bluh (Con, Dorcan) said he was leaving a legacy of a functioning council that was ready to deliver on its promises to cut waste, build infrastructure and revitalise the town centre.

He said the Conservatives had made the council leaner and more efficient through outsourcing and that this would continue.

"I'm absolutely delighted with the result," Coun Bawden said.

"The people of Swindon have accepted the hard work and decisions my administration has made in the past three years to become one of the best town councils in the country."

He said the Conservative council's success was setting up the party to take over the town's two presently Labour-held parliamentary seats.

"The Conservative Party can look forward to the two local parliamentary seats being the Conservative backbone," Coun Bawden said.

"It underlines the Conservatives are back in the major towns."

He said the large majority would not make the Conservatives arrogant.

"I will do my best to make sure complacency doesn't creep in," Coun Bawden said.

"We have an agenda and we will deliver that agenda.

"We are going to deliver regeneration of the town centre.

"We are going to ensure that when Swindon is allocated 35,000 houses we will have the infrastructure for expansion.

"We are determined to deliver an efficient council."

Incoming Conservative leader Roderick Bluh said the result was "fantastic".

"Five wards is a fantastic result," Coun Bluh said. "We fought on a positive record.

"It's been a success but there's still a lot more to do. The last two years have been about putting the council back on its two feet."

Coun Bluh said the Conservatives would work hard to make sure the council and town continued to improve.

Labour leader Kevin Small said despite losing seats, the party had not lost votes overall.

He said national problems for the Labour government had hurt the local vote.

He said two seats Moredon and St Philip had been lost by less than 30 votes each.

"We came very close in those wards," Coun Small said.

"The last nine days haven't been good for the Labour Party.

"We could say we could have held those two seats if it hadn't been for the past nine days."

But he said it was not all bad news for the party.

"The Labour vote in most of the wards has come up," Coun Small said.

Coun Small said the Labour opposition would work hard to rein in what he said was Conservative waste.

"This Tory council is wasting money," Coun Small said.

"The massive privatisation of anything that doesn't move is something that's of the most concern."

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Stan Pajak said the result was a "disappointment for us".

"It's about an opposition to the Blair Government," Coun Pajak said. "The Conservatives have picked up that protest vote."

Coun Pajak said the Liberal Democrats still remained a viable force in the council chamber despite dropping to just three seats in the chamber.

In the new council, the Conservatives hold 40 seats, Labour 14, the Liberal Democrats three and two independents.

A field of 70 candidates stood to contest the 19 council seats up for election in this cycle.

The remaining 30 wards will go to the polls in the coming two years.

The Conservatives were confident of keeping power, already holding 27 wards that were not up for election this time round.

They needed just three of the 19 contested wards to retain a majority and control of the council.