HARROGATE is a hung council with neither the Liberal Democrats nor the Conservatives enjoying total control.

The Lib Dems were returned following the poll in May 2002 as the council’s largest party with 27 seats to the Tories’ 26.

But one Independent councillor is on the borough council, with a powerful barter role, and there are no current Labour councillors.

This time a third of the council is standing to face the public vote. Candidates are:

Bilton – Robin Arthur Adderley (Con); Norman Harry Dobell (Lab); Morris Lightfoot (Lib Dem). Granby – Margaret-Ann Corlett De Courcey-Bayley (Lib Dem); David Thomas King (Lab); Paul Frederick Needham (Con).

Harlow Moor – Christopher James France (Lab); Michael Kaye (Lib Dem); Simon Francis Owen Theakston (Con).

High Harrogate – Eric Lupton Cunningham (Lab); Andrew Hanson Jones (Con); Matthew David Webber (Lib Dem).

Hookstone Ward – Michael Peter Latham Laycock (Con); Reginald Marsh (Lib Dem); Robert Kelly Swithinbank (Lab)

Low Harrogate – Jean Mary Butterfield (Con); Christine Elizabeth Colman (Lab); Michael Joseph Paszkowski (Lib Dem). New Park – Mark Alan Paul France (Lab); David Guy Pearson (Con); Wendy Marie Richards (Lib Dem). Pannal – Cynthia Coltman (Lab); Michael Gardner (Con); Yvonne Jones (Lib Dem). Rossett – James Clark (Con); Deborah Ann Havercroft (Lab); Leslie John Parkes (Lib Dem). Saltergate – Michael Harrison (Con); Geoffrey Frederick Webber (Lib Dem). Starbeck – Phillip Gerald Dixon (Con); Patricia Ann Foxall (Lab); Granville Ward (Lib Dem). Stray – Claudia Alice Hartley (Lib Dem); Patricia Ann Jones (Con); Roger Leonard Newby (Lab). Woodfield – Peter Caunt (Lab); Denis Muldoon (Con); John Peter Burrill Wren (Lib Dem). Knaresborough East – Malcolm Gordon Jackson (Con); Keith Rothwell (Lib Dem). Knaresborough King James – Richard Hall (Lib Dem); Simon Richard Hutchings (Lab); Diana Smith (Con). Knaresborough Scriven Park – Robert Wallis Aspin (Con); Kevin Brian Hawkins (Lib Dem); Andrew John Wright (Ind) Ripon Minster – Andrew Reginald Collyer (Con); Sidney James Hawke (Lib Dem) Ripon Moorside – Stephen John Jones (Lib Dem); Charles Ernest Powell (Ind); Anthony John Simpson (Con). Ripon Spa – Rosemarie Curlewis (Con); Paul Graham Freeman (Lib Dem).