EVERY seat on the new unitary authority for County Durham is to be contested at May's election after a record number of candidates put their names forward for election.
As nominations closed last Friday, it emerged that almost 400 candidates were to contest the election - more than double the number who stood in 2005 - and that voters would have a choice in every division across the county.
Voters go to the polls on May 1, following the Government's decision to axe the existing county council and seven district councils and replace it with a single unitary authority.
Each of the county council's existing 63 divisions will elect two councillors, who will initially serve as members of Durham County Council then, from April 2009, will become the first members of the new authority.
Labour, which is defending its overwhelming majority on the existing county council, is the only party to contest every seat.
The Liberal Democrats are fielding more than 90 candidates - more than double the number that stood for the party at the 2005 election. The party is standing for every seat in Durham City and Wear Valley, as well as most of those up for grabs in Easington and Sedgefield.
More than 80 Independent candidates, concentrated on Derwentside and Teesdale, will contest the election, four times the number who stood in 2005, while the Conservatives have put up just under 70 candidates, slightly up on 2005.
Meanwhile, a record 30 members of the British National Party are standing for election, with the party fielding candidates in most seats in Durham City and Sedgefield, as well as a handful in Wear Valley.
At present, Labour holds 53 seats on Durham County Council, with the Liberal Democrats on five, Independents three and Conservatives two.
One familiar face standing in the Framwellgate Moor division in Durham City is Michael Bates, who was Tory MP for Langbaurgh and a minister in John Major's Government in the 1990s.
Mr Bates, 46, now lives in Durham City and is director of the Vardy Group, which is based there. The seat is held by Labour.
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