VOTERS in Worcester headed for polling stations to elect a new Government and county council.

By the time voting ended at 10pm, Parliamentary candidates will have knocked on doors in Worcester, West Worcestershire, Mid-Worcestershire, Wyre Forest, Bromsgrove and Redditch constituencies in a day-long quest for last-minute support.

The Labour and Conservative candidates for Worcester, Mike Foster and Richard Adams respectively, both forecast a "very close" result in the city.

The battle in Wyre Forest has attracted national attention, with former hospital consultant Dr Richard Taylor and Conservative Mark Simpson urging the electorate to ditch Labour's David Lock.

Nationally, opinion polls point to a second big majority for Tony Blair.

Gallup put Labour on 47 per cent, the Tories on 30 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 18 per cent. Mori rated Labour's support as 45 per cent, 15 points above the Conservatives.

While the party leaders were holding their breath, 57 county council seats were also being contested.

"It would take very little to change the political complexion in a third to a half of all the counties in the country," said Chris Game, senior lecturer at the Institute of Local Government studies at the University of Birmingham.

A Conservative swing of 3 per cent would net them control of Worcestershire County Council, currently run by a Labour-Liberal Democrat administration.

Meanwhile, environmental campaigners were warning that voters travelling to polling stations by car could cause traffic chaos and intensified air pollution.

Alan Woods, chief executive of the lobby group Going for Green, was pessimistic.

"Around half the car journeys made each year in Britain are under a mile, so you can bet that there'll be people who will drive to the polls," he said.

He urged party workers ferrying disabled or elderly people to the polls to make as few journeys as possible, by sharing lifts.