Former council leader Tony Newman said he was bitterly disappointed after losing control of Croydon to the Conservatives.

On a demoralising night for his group Councillor Newman found it hard to hide his frustration.

"We were clearly disappointed," he said. "It was a very bad night for the Labour Party across London and I think Croydon got caught up in that.

"Looking across what happened in London I think it could have been worse. I was also surprised because we had some great wins in places like New Addington and Norbury."

The local Labour group paid the price for some unpopular local policies, including the closure of Crosfield and two old people's homes.

Neither was it helped by a disastrous spell for Tony Blair's Government in the run up to the election.

Coun Newman said he was also concerned about the strong showing for the BNP in Fieldway, which he said was "bad news for Croydon."

He must now begin the task of rebuilding a cohesive unit capable of challenging for the council in the next election.

But he admitted that senior members of the local party face a tough task rallying the troops.

"It's a challenge because this is a setback. But I think we will rebuild from a strong base and I'm confident we are working from a much stronger one than we have done in the past."

Coun Newman said his party must look ahead to the next local elections in 2010.

"Certainly by general agreement the council has a strong reputation, so the first thing we will do is hold the incoming Conservative administration to a very public account of what they're doing.

"Secondly, 20 years ago we had five Labour councillors in Croydon and in a bad night we got 27. With many of the majorities they won being quite small I think we will be in very good shape in four years time."