On May 1, residents of 174 local council areas across England and Wales will use their votes to register opinions on issues ranging from Gordon Brown's premiership to recycling measures. And with mysteriously emptied rubbish bins, homeless hitchhikers, clay dinosaurs and electoral fraud all on the agenda, campaigning is hotting up. This is a round-up of some of the stories in the country's major regional newspapers.
The Conservatives could take control of Denbighshire council from the Independents, the Daily Post believes. What with the Tories fighting to claw back seats in north Wales and the current administration's failings, especially in the area's education system, there could be a swing in favour of the blues, the paper says. It is going to be a tough fight though, with 142 candidates ready to slug it out for just 47 places.
In Swansea, traffic, parking and landfill sites are the issues troubling residents, prospective councillors have told the South Wales Evening Post. Sitting councillor Alan Robinson, said used syringes, general cleanliness and recycling also needed looking at. "What we need here is common sense," he told his local paper.
The two new unitary authorities being created to run Northumbria and County Durham are likely to be Labour-controlled. But the Newcastle Chronicle thinks the opposition, especially the Lib Dems, could dent Labour's majority. All the county councillors are stepping down so a new set can be elected to run the two new councils when they come into being next year.
The Western Daily Press, meanwhile, was out on the streets of Cheltenham and Swindon watching David Cameron campaigning on behalf of the local Tories. In between being harangued by Labour supporters and having a homeless man try to cadge a free lift in his people carrier, the party leader spoke out against garden development and plans to build thousands of homes on flood plains, readers found out.
Climate change is top of the agenda for Derby's Labour controlled council, with pledges to cut the council's emissions by 25% within three years and make the city economically sustainable by 2025, reports the Derby Evening Telegraph. The opposition Tories are backing the target-setting approach combined with more environmental education in schools, while the Lib Dems want householders educated about reducing their carbon footprint too.
Wolverhampton's Express and Star was on hand when Gordon Brown paid a surprise visit to the city with his wife, Sarah, late last week. The leader, it was reported, smiled broadly as he was whisked from his train straight into a waiting car and given a police convoy to one of Wolverhampton's nurseries. Once safely inside the centre, he helped youngsters make clay dinosaurs. But during a difficult week for the PM, he had few words for the local reporter.
In St Helen's, Labour has vowed to wrest back control of the council from the Tory-Lib Dem coalition that sensationally ousted the party in 2006 after 70 years of domination. The Liverpool Daily Post promises an election full of intrigue and suspense with seven BNP candidates fighting for places in the council chamber. The coalition, however, thinks it should still be a favourite with the voters, citing £150m government funding for new schools and a reduction in antisocial behaviour, fly-tipping and graffiti.
The Birmingham Post, meanwhile draws on a report outlining flaws in the UK's electoral system by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust to warn locals of fraud driven by immigrants practising the "village politics" of the Indian subcontinent. Family loyalties, male dominance and the "biraderi" clan system of voting among British Asians provides the perfect system for rigging postal ballots, it asserts.
Readers of the Birmingham Mail were told that it was a "complete coincidence" that, during a recent rubbish collection strike, bins in the street belonging to the councillor in charge of street services were emptied as normal while neighbouring streets saw uncollected bags of rotting vegetation piling up. Coming three days before his seat is up for grabs, councillor Len Gregory is sure to hope the stink blows over soon.
