BLACKBURN with Darwen Council's ruling Labour group cannot lose their control in next month's elections.

Tories will field candidates in all 20 seats which are up for grabs but Labour have a 30-seat majority over the opposition parties.

Conservative leader Coun Jim Hirst and his deputy Coun John Williams face one-on-one battles against Labour candidates as the Liberal Democrats have not fielded candidates in their Beardwood with Lammack and Livesey with Pleasington wards.

Three councillors have decided to stand down at the elections. Conservative Coun Doreen Taylor will not defend her Roe Lee ward while Labour Couns Devena Paterson (Marsh House) and John Fairless (Higher Croft) have also stood aside.

Coun Ashley Whalley, chairman of the council's highways and transport committee, will defend Coun Fairless' Higher Croft ward instead of the slim majority he holds in his current Corporation Park seat.

Saima Afzal will replace Coun Whalley in Corporation Park in her bid to become the first female Asian councillor in Blackburn and Darwen. But the Tories have also fielded an Asian candidate in the ward in an attempt to have their first Asian councillor elected to the town hall.

The Liberal Democrats have fielded Charles Mills in Shadsworth who played a prominent part in the campaign to save the Shadsworth House home for the elderly in Dunoon Drive.

AUDLEY

Salas Kiani (Lab)*

Lorraine Marsden (Lib Dem)

Alfred Olaiya (Con)

BASTWELL

Lorraine Chesterton (Con)

Mohammed Husain (Lab)*

BEARDWOOD WITH LAMMACK

James Hirst (Con)*

Abdul Piracha (Lab)

CORPORATION PARK

Saima Afzal (Lab)

Par 'Vaiz Iqbal Awan (Con)

David D'Arcy (Lib Dem)

Kenneth McIver (Green)

EARCROFT

Mary Leaver (Lab)*

Stephen Simpson (Lib Dem) Brian Thornley (Con)

EAST RURAL

Reginald Morgan (Lib Dem)

Nigel Nuttall (Lab)

Fred Slater (Con)*

EWOOD

Alan Dean (Lib Dem)

John Milburn (Lab)*

Lyall Robertson Wilson (Con)

HIGHER CROFT

Margaret Carus (Con)

Helmy Fakhry (Lib Dem)

Ashley Whalley (Lab)*

LITTLE HARWOOD WITH WHITEBIRK

Derek Hardman (Con)

Yusuf Jan-Virmani (Lab)* Richard Smith (Lib Dem)

LIVESEY WITH PLEASINGTON

Andrew Thompson (Lab)

John Williams (Con)

MARSH HOUSE

Kevin Connor (Lib Dem)

Warren Lishman (Lab)

Thomas Threlfall (Con)

MEADOWHEAD

Gerard Conway (Lib Dem)

Alan Jones (Con)

William Pickup (Lab)*

MILL HILL

Gail Barton (Lab)*

Edmund Critchley (Lib Dem)

Edward Harrison (Con)

QUEEN'S PARK

Paul Edmondson (Lib Dem)*

Faryad Hussain (Lab) Graham Alexander (Con)

ROE LEE

Moira Dean (Lib Dem)

Andrew Donnachie (Lab)

Micheal Law Riding (Con)

SHADSWORTH

Anthony Humphrys (Lab)*

Bernard Miller (Con)

Charles Mills (Lib Dem)

SHEAR BROW

Abdul Bhikha (Con)

Brian Dunning (Lib Dem)

Abdul Patel (Lab)*

SUDELL

Derek Brindle (Lab)*

Carol Norman (Lib Dem) Jacqueline Slater (Con)

SUNNHURST

David Fenton (Con)

David Hollings (Lab)*

Cristopher Thayne (Lib Dem)

WENSLEY FOLD

John Doyle (Con)

Robin Field (Green)

Mohammed Khan (Lab)*

Garry Wilson (Lib Dem)

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.