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)

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