West Oxfordshire District Council IT will only take a small change to alter the balance at West Oxfordshire District Council.
Elections next month could bring an end to the Labour and Liberal Democrat pact, based on a slender majority of one. The council chairman, Liberal Democrat Colin James, could also go.
Voters in 18 of the council's 49 seats go to the polls and could give all the parties, including Independents, a testing time in working out new alliances.
The present political make-up is: Independents 15, Liberal Democrats 14, Labour 11, Conservatives 9. There are 49 candidates, including one Green, and the Lib Dems have the most work to do, defending eight of their 14 seats.
When all the possible outcomes are taken into account, one thing is clear - no single party has a chance of gaining an outright majority on the hung council.
One man who will not be there any longer is long-serving councillor David Walker, who is standing down from his Brize Norton and Curbridge ward. Originally a Conservative, Mr Walker became one of the so-called Poll Tax Rebels in the early 1990s, breaking from the Tory whip and going Independent.
Another familiar face will also be missing, Conservative Peg McWilliam from Bladon and Cassington. Relative newcomers Mrs Susan Swann, from Clanfield and Shilton, and Patrick Madden, from Filkins, and Mrs Elizabeth Mortimer, Burford, are also standing down.
Chairman Colin James faces a tough battle in his Freeland and Hanborough ward where there have been close election encounters in recent years and Julian Cooper, planning committee chairman, also has a three-cornered fight in Woodstock. CANDIDATES * denotes sitting councillor
ASCOTT AND SHIPTON
Frances Ashworth (Lab)
*Robert Barrett (Ind)
Rodney Rose (Con)
ASTON AND STANDLAKE
Christine Ainsley-Cowlishaw (Lab)
Martin Chapman (Con)
*Brenda Smith (Lib Dem)
BAMPTON
Duncan Enright (Lab)
Gareth Epps (Lib Dem)
*Jonathan Phillips (Ind)
BARTONS
Matthew Deans (Lab)
*William Goffe (Con)
Richard Noviss (Lib Dem)
BLADON AND CASSINGTON
Louise Chapman (Con)
Laurence Whitehead (Lab)
BRIZE NORTON AND CURBRIDGE
Verena Hunt (Con)
David Rossiter (Lib Dem)
William Tumbridge (Lab)
BURFORD
Alison Bettle (Lab)
Christopher Davis (Lib Dem)
Ann Edmonds (Green)
Mary Sanderson (Con)
CARTERTON NORTH
Richard Harold (Lib Dem)
Charles Marlow (Con)
William Stevenson (Lab)
*Keith Stone (Ind)
CARTERTON SOUTH
*Peter Madden (Lib Dem)
John Rowe (Lab)
Paul Wesson (Con)
CHARLBURY
Reginald James (Lab)
Brian Stacey(Con)
*Chris Tatton (Lib Dem)
CHIPPING NORTON
*Evelyn Coles (Lab)
Rosalind Stroud (Con)
CLANFIELD AND SHILTON
Angela Neale (Con)
Sally Webster (Lab)
EYNSHAM
Stephen Hayward (Con)
Christopher Miles (Lab)
*Harry Wyatt (Lib Dem)
FILKINS AND LANGFORD
Michael Enright (Lab)
Donald Seale (Con)
FREELAND AND HANBOROUGH
David Dawes (Con)
*Colin James (Lib Dem)
Kim Simkin (Lab)
WITNEY NORTH
*Brenda Churchill (Lib Dem)
David Roberston (Con)
John Ryall (Lab)
WITNEY SOUTH
Anthony Harvey (Con)
*Fred Saxby (Lab)
WOODSTOCK
Ian Baxter (Lab)
*Julian Cooper (Lib Dem)
Sandra Rasch (Con)
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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