ELECTIONS 2017: Worcestershire County Council's Bedwardine battle

This seat has long been considered one of the 'safer' ones in Worcester for the Tories, but never has it been as fascinating as now.

Councillor Derek Prodger has been controversially de-selected, meaning he is just weeks away from a forced retirement, spelling the end of his reign both at County Hall and as the fire authority chairman for Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

At one stage he was threatening to stand as an independent after a bitter fallout inside the party, but has decided against it.

In his place is Councillor Alan Amos, a former Labour politician and ex-mayor who has chosen not to contest his old County Hall seat of Gorse Hill & Warndon.

Many of the big issues in Bedwardine are ones that impact upon the whole city with traffic congestion, traveller invasions, dog mess in alleys and the St John's shopping area some of the hot topics locally.

It is also the division where Worcester's historic Cinderella ground sits, with its famous old cricketing pavilion.

The Labour Party is also pulling out all the stops here, with former West Worcestershire parliamentary candidate Dan Walton selected as its candidate.

Another familiar face, the chairman of Worcester's Lib Dem branch Mike Mullins, is having a go here - one of five candidates.

Paul Hickling, UKIP's membership secretary, has also put his name forward alongside Green activist Daniel Daye, a first time candidate.

One of the key questions here is how much of a personal following did Cllr Prodger have, and whether those voters stay put and back Cllr Amos, who happens to represent the area on the city council.

Both Labour and the Conservatives are chucking significant energy and resources into it, suggesting it is not a foregone conclusion.

The last time this seat was contested in 2013 Cllr Prodger got 847 votes, a comfortable majority of 301 - with UKIP actually in second place and Labour third.

With the national polls as they are, it would be considered a major shock if this seat does anything other than stay blue in May - but elections are rarely as simple as that.

Alan Amos (CONSERVATIVE)

With a degree from Oxford University, I was a teacher before becoming an MP.

I was Mayor of Worcester 2014/5, my family has lived in Bedwardine for over 30 years.

As Bedwardine's city councillor for the past year, with my walkabouts and In Touch newsletters, I know the local people, the area, and issues.

Residents know they can trust me as a hard worker who gets things done such as protecting Pitmaston Park from gypsies, launching a campaign against dog fouling and the menace of gulls and working with the police to stop obstructive parking.

It also includes investigating the closure of St John's Dental Practice, expanding my Mayoral project to tackle the problem of loneliness amongst older people, getting missed refuse and dog bins emptied and overgrown trees pruned.

My priorities include improving our pavements and footpaths; and speeding.

Daniel Daye (GREEN)

I have lived in Worcester since 2011 and have worked as a metalwork engineer for over 20 years.

I am also a member of several volunteer groups around the city.

As a member of the Transition Worcester steering group and as coordinator of the Worcester Gleaning group, I work at addressing the culture of wastefulness in the food production process.

Together, our volunteers work with farmers and growers to recover surplus foodstuffs, which we then donate to local charities.

Political decisions can affect everyone, so taking part in the decision-making process should be easily accessible to the many, not just the few.

The Green Party makes this possible with its inclusive attitude towards politics.

Paul Hickling (UKIP)

UKIP councillors do not have a party whip and are free to vote as they want on any issue and can truly represent their constituent’s views.

If elected I will push for the southern link road to be continued between Carrington Bridge and the Powick roundabout and I will fight to bring forward the start date of the Northern link road from 2030 to 2020.

I will also work cross party to reverse the £3 million pound of cuts in children’s services which communities so desperately need.

As for the biggest candidate in the field, I’m not sure which party Alan Amos is standing for anymore but I guess we will all read about it.

Mike Mullins (LIB DEM)

We moved to Worcester over 30 years ago, and think it’s a great place to live and work. Our children went to local schools.

I was a design engineer but now volunteer for several charities.

My priorities are to protect vulnerable children and adults by holding the Tory led county council to account.

In January, Ofsted inspectors rated the council's children’s services as inadequate and there is a huge funding gap looming in adult social care, which will mean more elderly people having reduced care, thus putting more pressure on our hospitals.

I think it is vital to preserve local government and resist any further central government cuts to council services.

Daniel Walton (LABOUR)

The current state of things in Worcester is down to poor management of services, which have been stripped to the bone or sold off by Tory councillors.

This means we are now paying more council tax for less.

We have seen cuts to social care, massive cuts to children's services (judged ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted) and cuts to buses leaving many without a bus service.

Despite their boasts about spending so much on roads, the Tories are saying that they will not even think about completing the ring road until beyond 2030.

As your county councillor I would fight for what you pay for and work hard to better represent Worcester than we have seen from your current Tory councillors, who take residents in Bedwardine for granted.