The polls are the biggest electoral test yet for the coalition government Votes are being counted after polls closed in elections for 279 councils across England.
More than 9,500 seats are being contested, last fought in 2007, and Labour are hoping to make gains from the Conservatives and Lib Dems.
Labour held Sunderland in the first declared result of the night.
Results in Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool and Lib Dem-held Bristol and Kingston-upon-Hull are among those most keenly awaited.
The Conservatives are defending about 5,000 seats while Labour and the Lib Dems are fighting to keep about 1,600 and 1,850 seats respectively in polls across 36 metropolitan, 49 unitary authorities and 194 district councils.
Among the councils the Lib Dems are seeking to keep control of are Bristol, Hull and Stockport while they are hoping to remain the largest party in Sheffield and Newcastle and hold off Labour advances.
The Liberal Democrat leader of Hull City Council has said he would be “gobsmacked” if Labour did not make significant gains in the polls.
Carl Minns told the BBC that if Labour do not win more than six seats “they’ve had a bad night”.
The BBC’s political editor in Yorkshire Len Tingle said the Lib Dems expected a difficult night in Sheffield – the city which party leader Nick Clegg represents in Parliament – amid reports they could lose up to 12 seats.
Separately, a Liberal Democrat council candidate in Newcastle was found dead before the polls closed.
Neil Hamilton, believed to have been in his 60s, was standing in the Westerhope ward of the city. His death is expected to invalidate the result for the ward and lead to a fresh election.
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