Horsham Council

The threat of an incineration plant coupled with a large hike in council tax is set to spur many into action on May 1 although still only a minority of the electorate is likely to vote.

Experts predict the turnout for the Horsham district, which covers more than 100 square miles, will only be about 30 per cent.

And most of the votes cast will be for the ruling Conservatives.

It is what is described in local politics as "vigorous apathy".

Horsham is a true blue district and has been for generations.

The only blip in recent memory was when the Liberal Democrats took control of the district for four years back in 1995.

They were almost as surprised to win power as the Tories were to lose it.

Residents remember it as a backlash against Tory sleaze, coming in the dark days of Parliamentary brown envelopes and cash for questions.

The poll did not reflect any increase in the Lib Dem support, rather that many Tory voters stayed at home.

The Lib Dems major contribution was to introduce recycling measures.

Their rule was cut short when the Tories romped back to power in 1999.

But a tribute to that lone orange tint in a sea of blue is that the council continues to pursue recycling policies thanks to a £1.3 million government grant.

The council plans to involve every household in the district in recycling by the end of the summer.

Once again, this year's election will be a tussle between the Tories and Lib Dems, with the Independents running third and Labour right at the back.

Labour carefully selects its candidates and which seats to compete for but, despite this, there has not been a Labour candidate elected in Horsham for more than a decade.

The standing joke is that the last Labour councillor attended Barbara Castle's 21st birthday party.

The current council is made up of 24 Conservatives, 14 Lib Dems and six Independents.

On Thursday week, 113 candidates will stand in the 22 wards arranged from Rusper in the north to Bramber in the south with Cowfield and Billingshurst to the west and east.

A total of 44 district councillors will be elected together with 366 parish councillors, involving every ward in the district.

The Conservatives are putting up 42 candidates, the Lib Dems will field 44 and Labour has 16 names in the hat and there will be 11 Independent candidates.

There are several key issues set to influence the way votes will be cast.

Many residents are angry Band D council tax has risen above the £1,000 mark for the first time since its inception.

They are also unhappy the council takes only 11 per cent from each household for its services with the rest going to West Sussex Council and Sussex Police.

All 53,000 homes in the district will be seeing the effects of the recycling programme as it is rolled out this summer and there have been massive capital investments in the town.

Horsham's new £12 million Pavilions in the Park swimming complex is now afloat.

The curtain goes up on a new theatre complex later this year while Horsham's new £750,000 bus station is proving to be just the ticket for passengers.

All these projects have come to fruition just in time for the elections.

But it is the vexed question of incineration which gets most people hot under the collar.

The county council has earmarked three sites for the plant, including one near Warnham, which is fiercely opposed by residents.

The voting backlash may not take into consideration the fact the plans have nothing to do with the district council.

In fact, all parties are canvassing on an anti-incinerator stance.

But since the waste disposal land sites are full, the incinerators will have to be fired up sooner or later.

It is a problem that will not go away and the newly-elected councillors will have to seek more information from countries like Denmark where incineration is a way of life.

Finally, it could be postal votes which decide many of the polls.

In the last election, about 1,800 people voted by post and this figure has risen to more than 4,500 this year and continues to rise as the April 23 deadline closes in.

Anyone can vote by post so it is not just the rural wards who will be using the postal option.

Postal votes will be added to the figures at the Horsham Drill Hall on the big night and there will be partying at Labour campaign headquarters if a single candidate scores any success.

Even so, it is understood the streamers are on a sale or return basis and Labour has used the same box, unopened, since 1983.

CANDIDATES FOR MAY 2003 THERE are 133 candidates fighting for 44 seats on Horsham District Council. (Key: C Conservative; I Independent; L Labour; LD Liberal Democrat; UKIP United Kingdom Independence)

Billingshurst and Shipley (3 seats): David Fisher (C); John Griffin (LD); Geoffrey Lawes (LD); Gordon Lindsay (C); Sally Morton (L); Douglas Rands (I); Ann Rodwell (LD); Sheila Van Den Bergh (C).

Bramber, Upper Beeding and Woodmancote (2): Alan Fisher (C); John Hewitt (LD); Estelle Hilditch (L); Michael Neves (L); John Peake (C); Stephanie Shorey (LD).

Broadbridge Heath (1): Peter Catchpole (C); Sally Horner (LD); Richard Wilson (L).

Chanctonbury (3): James Glasse (I); Alan Harris (C); Stephen Holbrook (LD); Alan Hughes (LD); Michael Jackson (C); Eric Jenkins (C); Alan Sugarman (LD).

Chantry (3): Keith Ballard (C); Douglas Banks (LD); Neil Butler (C); Maureen Girard (LD); Arthur Sullivan (LD); Janet Tatum (C).

Cowfold, Shermanbury and West Grinstead (2): Bernard Baldwin (C); Josephine Battersby (L); Leonora Harries (C); Piers Pollard (LD); Laurence Price (LD).

Denne (2): John Charles (C); Terence Parker (L); William Parsonson (LD); David Sheldon (LD); Peter Tobutt (C).

Forest (1): Evelyn Mauchel (C); David Newman (LD); Louise Skipton-Carter (L).

Henfield (2): David Howard (LD); Sheila Matthews (I); Thomas Pearce (LD); Adam Reeves (C).

Holbrook East (2): Andrew Baldwin (C); Maria Bell (C); Sheila Dale (LD); Kathleen Goddard (L); Anthony Millson (LD); James Rae (I).

Holbrook West (2): Peter Burgess (I); Raymond Chapman (L); Anthony Hull (LD); Christian Mitchell (C); Robert Nye (C); Jacqueline Powell (LD).

Horsham Park (3): Derek Bradnum (C); Clive Burgess (I); Pamela Clarke (LD); David Holmes (LD); Nathanael Johansen-Allison (C); Charlotte Morrissey (L); Peter Mullarky (LD); Elizabeth Ostacchini (C).

Itchingfield, Slinfold and Warnham (2): Jean Burnham (C); Michael Dalrymple (LD); Claire Vickers (C); David Wright (LD).

Nuthurst (1): John Cox (C); Nigel Sloan (LD).

Pulborough and Coldwaltham (2): Rosalyn Deedman (LD); Brian Donnelly (C); Anthony Girard (LD); Roger Paterson (C).

Roffey North (2): Jacobus Clausen (LD); Margaret Deane (I); Frank King (C); Florence Paffett (I); Barbara Price (LD); Matthew Stanley (L); Simon Torn (C).

Roffey South (2): Keith Maslin (L); Peter Paffett (I); Pat Rutherford (LD); Andrew Strang (C); Jonathan Vickers (C); Roger Wilton (LD).

Rudgwick (1): John Bailey (C); Michael Hendy (LD).

Rusper and Colgate (1): Derek Brundish (LD); Elizabeth Kitchen (C).

Southwater (3): Christine Conibear (L); Graham Dye (C); Simon Hawkins (C); Ian Howard (C); Julia Stainton (LD); Peter Stainton (LD); Barbara Varley (LD).

Steyning (2): George Cockman (I); Peter Hilditch (L); Lindsay Jupp (UKIP); Margaret Lyth (C); Valerie Neves (L); Susan Stokes (LD); Michael Twell (LD).

Trafalgar (2): Christine Costin (LD); Leonard Crosbie (LD); Elved Mainwaring (L); Ian Strang (C); Vivienne Tobutt (C).