HYNDBURN’S Pritchard family feud will ignite the local election campaign in East Lancashire.
Labour is expected to keep control of that borough, plus Blackburn with Darwen and Chorley.
Malcolm Pritchard, ousted as independent councillor in Accrington North at last year’s Lancashire county elections by daughter Clare, will seek to gain revenge on May 22.
He is opposing her in Milnshaw ward as a UKIP candidate with the Tories and Liberal Democrats clearing the way for a bitter battle between the two who have not spoken for a year.
Deputy borough leader Clare’s majority in 2010 was just 317 votes against the Conservatives and in 2011 Labour won with less votes than their three opponents combined.
The latest round in the bitter rift, where he accused her of putting ‘politics before family’, is the highlight of the Hyndburn poll where Labour cannot realistically lose control with 11 seats up for grabs and a majority of 11.
UKIP is contesting every ward with former independent Ian Robinson defending Overton for his new party and Dayle Taylor tackling Tory group leader Peter Britcliffe in St Andrew’s.
There are three independent candidates and three Greens, David Daly, in Huncoat.
In Blackburn with Darwen, the LibDems are fielding no candidates in Blackburn, a move branded ‘an absolute disgrace’ by Labour and Tory bosses Kate Hollern and Mike Lee.
LibDem leader David Foster hit back and said: “We concentrate our resources where we think we have a realistic chance of winning. We don’t put up paper candidates.”
Much of the interest will centre on Higher Croft ward after the death of sitting councillor Dorothy Walsh earlier this year.
The two candidates polling the most votes out of Labour’s Andy Kay and Don McKinlay and Conservative Paul Marrow will be elected.
Only the top vote winner will have a full four years, holding out the possibility that coun Kay, currently borough deputy leader, could end up with just the last two years of coun Walsh’s term.
Fellow deputy leader Mohammed Khan should hold Wensley Fold for Labour.
With 45 Labour seats at the moment to 14 Conservatives and five LibDems, even if Labour lost every seat it will have a majority of one. There are two independents and four UKIP candidates standing.
Marsh House will be defended for the LibDems by St Peter’s Residents Association chairman Mark Westall against Labour’s John Roberts, partner of Coun Hollern, and Conservative and ex-LibDem Kevin Connor.
Whitehall sees teetotal Coun Foster up against pub landlords, Labour’s Matt Worden and UKIP’s Austin Molloy. Sharon Aspden stands for the Conservatives.
In Chorley, Labour will be looking to consolidate control and the Tories seeking gains.
They both have candidates in all 17 seats up for election, UKIP are contesting 10, and the LibDems four. Independents and Greens will fight three each.
The existing council make-up is Labour 24, Conservative 20 with two Independents and a single Coppull Independent.
Its longest-serving member, Dennis Edgerley, is stepping down.
There are no elections for Ribble Valley and Lancashire County councils.
CANDIDATES:
Blackburn with Darwen
Audley Joan Bamber (Con), Salim Sidat (Lab)
Bastwell Bilal Afzal (Con), Parwaiz Akhtar (Lab)
Beardwood with Lammack Imtiaz Ali (Con), Paul Rigby Mason (Lab)
Corporation Park Tariq Mahmood (Con), Iqbal Patel (Ind), John Wright (Lab)
East Rural David John Hollings (Lab), Matthew Jackson (Ind), Julie Helen Slater (Con)
Ewood Simon Bennett (Con), Jim Casey (Lab)
Fernhurst Sean Clark (UKIP), Denise Gee (Con), Charlotte Kovacs (Lab)
Higher Croft Andy Kay (Lab), Paul Marrow (Con), Don McKinlay (Lab)
Little Harwood Rana Asghar Ali (Con), Pat McFall (Lab), Arlene Noone (UKIP)
Livesey with Pleasington Charlotte Mary Mckenna (Lab), John Christopher Pearson (Con)
Marsh House Kevin Connor (Con), John Roberts (Lab), Mark Westall (Lib Dem)
Meadowhead Julie Gunn (Lab), Konrad Tapp (Con)
Mill Hill Michael Longbottom (UKIP), Jim Smith (Lab), Anne Marie Tolley (Con)
Queen’s Park Ajmal Ali (Con), Salim Mulla (Lab)
Roe Lee David Pearson (Con), Ron Whittle (Lab)
Shdsworth with Whitebirk Tony Humphrys (Lab) Caine Leech (Con)
Shear Brow Hussain Akhtar (Lab), Maamu Balapatel (Con)
Sudell Mark Peter Davis (Lib Dem), Eileen Entwistle (Lab), Jess Huddleston (Con)
Sunnyhurst John East (Lib Dem), Ian J Grimshaw (UKIP), Lynn Perkins (Con), David Smith (Lab)
Wensley Fold Mohammed Khan (Lab), Ghulam Sabir (Con)
Whitehall Sharon Aspden (Con), David Foster (Lib Dem), Austin Molloy (UKIP), Matthew Jack Worden (Lab)
Hyndburn
Clayton-le-Moors Stephen John Brierley (Con), Tim O’Kane (Lab), Janet Storey (Ind), Peter Street (UKIP)
Huncoat David Daly (Green), Bernard Dawson (Lab), Mark Anthony Taylor (UKIP), Nick Whittaker (Con)
Immanuel Julie Ann Livesey (Con), Christopher Matthew (UKIP), Colette McCormack (Lab)
Milnshaw Clare Pritchard (Lab), Malcolm Eric Pritchard (UKIP)
Netherton Josh Allen (Con), Carole Guilfoyle (UKIP), Bernadette Parkinson (Lab), Maureen Tomlinson (Ind)
Overton Peter Clarke (Con), Jenny Nedwell (Lab), Ian Robinson (UKIP), Joan Elizabeth West (Green)
Peel Kerry Gormley (Green), Sarah Susan Johnson (Ind), Joyce Plummer (Lab), Alex Ross (UKIP)
Rishton David George Dowling (UKIP), Sam Haworth (Ind), Warren Melia (Con), Ken Moss (Lab)
Spring Hill Pam Barton (Lab), Mohammed Sefdar (Con), Ken Smith (UKIP)
St Andrew’s Peter Britcliffe (Con), Stewart Thurston Eaves (Lab), Dayle Taylor (UKIP)
St Oswald’s Doug Hayes (Con), Paul Thompson (UKIP), Susan Young (Lab)
Chorley
Andlington & Anderton Hayden Clewlow (UKIP), Graham Dunn (Lab), Phillip William Pilling (Lib Dem), Charlotte Woods (Con)
Pennine Gordon France (Lab), Marie Elizabeth Gray (Con), Tom Shorrock (UKIP)
Chisnall Harold Heaton (Con), Alan Whittaker (Lab)
Chorley East Anne Calderbank (Green), Mel Coombes (Ind), Alan Cullens (Con), Hasina Khan (Lab), Christopher Stuart (UKIP)
Chorley North East Matt Hansford (Con), Alistair William Morwood (Lab)
Chorley North West Aaron Beaver (Lab), Peter Malpas (Con), Ralph Snape (Ind)
Chorley South East Sarah Kiley (Con), David John McManus (UKIP), Bev Murray (Lab), David Porter (Lib Dem), Alistair James Straw (Green)
Chorley South West Dominic Jewell (Con), Roy Lees (Lab)
Clayton-le-Woods North Charlie Bromilow (Lab), Stephen John Fenn (Lib Dem), Mark Lee (Green), Raymond McGrady (UKIP), Chris Morris (Con)
Clayton-le-Woods West and Cuerden Paul Clark (Lab), Mick Muncaster (Con)
Coppull Kenneth William Ball (Ind), Tom Norris (Con), Mark Smith (UKIP), Richard Toon (Lab)
Eccleston & Mawdlesley Richard George (UKIP), Stan Ely (Lab), Keith Iddon (Con)
Euxton North Mike Handley (Lab), Stuart Rickaby (UKIP), Robert Aron Wilding (Con)
Euxton South Mark Andrew Jarnell (Lab), Debra Platt (Con), David William Smithies (UKIP)
Clayton-le-Woods & Whittle-le-Woods Eric Bell (Con), Glenda Charlesworth (Lib Dem), Dan Croft (Lab)
Wheelton & Withnell Margaret Mary France (Lab), Alison Marie Hansford (Con)
Astley & Buckshaw Matthew John Lynch (Lab), Jeffrey Flinders (UKIP), Alan Platt (Con)
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