NOTTS COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS: the fight for Hucknall seats

NO fewer than 15 candidates will be fighting for the three Hucknall ward seats on Notts County Council in the elections on Thursday June 4.

Six different political parties will be represented in what is sure to be a keenly-contested battle.

Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) each have three candidates.

And one each has been entered by the British National Party and English Democrats 'Putting England First,' who are new to the Dispatch district.

The remaining candidate is standing without any party affiliation and is not even calling himself Independent.

The current make-up of the county council is: Labour 35 seats, Conservatives 26 seats, Liberal Democrats five seats, Independents one. Labour have been the ruling party at County Hall for the past 28 years.

Hucknall's current members of the county council are Coun Chris Baron (Lab), Coun Dave Shaw (Lab) and Coun Mick Murphy (Con), who won his seat in a by-election in January 2007, caused by the death of long-serving member Coun Nellie Smedley (Lab) three months earlier.

The other local county-council ward, Newstead, which embraces the villages of Bestwood, Papplewick, Linby and Newstead, will see a straight fight between the Conservatives and Labour.

The ward is sure to have a new member because Coun Joe Lonergan (Con) has decided to step down after holding the seat for 16 years.

The counts for the two wards will be held next Friday morning. The Hucknall one will be at Hucknall Leisure Centre and the Newstead one at Carlton Forum. The results for each should be announced by early afternoon.