Walsall Council local election preview: Close battle for borough control

Like neighbouring Dudley, the borough is a key marginal which can swing either way between Labour and the Tories.

Minority parties and independent councillors regularly have the deciding votes when it comes to whether it is the reds or the blues who get to run the show.

Labour currently has a minority administration under Councillor Sean Coughlan, thanks to the support of a pair of Lib Dems.

Current make-up of Walsall Council

The reds currently have 28 seats to the Tories 24.

UKIP holds two seats and the Lib Dems have two.

There are three independent councillors and one vacant seat.

One third up for grabs

A little over one third of the council’s 60 seats are up for grabs, including two in Paddock where Conservative councillor Peter Washbrook has stood down.

Both main parties will be aiming to capitalise on UKIP’s national collapse, while the Tories under Mike Bird will be hoping last year’s general election result in Walsall North is a good omen.

That saw Conservative Eddie Hughes take the constituency from Labour for the first time in nearly 40 years.

Mr Hughes has stood down from his Streetly seat on the council to focus on his parliamentary work. Other battles to note include Brownhills, where Stephen Craddock will defend his seat having jumped ship from UKIP to the Tories.

Diane Coughlan will defend her Willenhall South seat for Labour, and Labour councillor Aftab Nawaz is up for election in St Matthews.

Labour councillor Claire Clews has stood down in Rushall-Shelfield, and Conservative Oliver Bennett will not be defending his Pelsall seat.

Former Labour councillor and Mayor of Walsall Pete Smith is back to contest his home ward of Blakenall as an independent.

He was previously a councillor in his home ward but quit Labour over concerns about the council’s budget plans in 2015.

Walsall Council - full list of candidates

*Party holding seat

Aldridge Central and South

John Murray (Cons)*

Mish Rahman (Lab)

Roy Sheward (Lib Dem)

Aldridge North and Walsall Wood

Bob Grainger (Lab)

Anthony Harris (Cons)*

Bentley and Darlaston North

Rose Burley (Lab)*

Colleen Jones (Cons)

Birchills-Leamore

Gaz Ali (Cons)

Lee Jeavons (Lab)*

Blakenall

Ross Lee (Cons)

Shaun Mckenzie (Green)

Ian Robertson (Lab)*

Pete Smith (Indep)

Bloxwich East

Kath Phillips (Lab)*

Mark Statham (Cons)

Bloxwich West

Louise Harrison (Cons)*

Natalie Latham (Lab)

Brownhills

Derek Bennett (UKIP)

Stephen Craddock (Cons)*

Patti Lane (Lab)

Timothy Martin (Green)

Darlaston South

Paul Bott (Indep)*

Hilda Derry (Cons)

Karen Jukes (Lib Dem)

Deb Madeley (Lab)

Paddock

Haj Bashir (Lab)

Andrea Bradley (Lab)

Peter Faultless (UKIP)

Jennifer Gray (Lib Dem)

Waheed Rasab (Cons)

Gurmeet Sohal (Cons)*

Palfrey

Mozamil Khan (Cons)

Mohammad Zazir (Lab)*

Pelsall

Graham Eardley (UKIP)

John Maltman (Lab)

Sally Neville (Cons)*

John Van Steijn (Lib Dem)

Pheasey Park Farm

Shamim Ahmed (Lab)

Glyn Fletcher (Lib Dem)

Steven Grey (UKIP)

Christopher Towe (Cons)*

Pleck

Jitu Miah (Cons)

Harbans Sarohi (Lab)*

Rushall-Shelfield

Liam Allen (Green)

Sam Cooke (Lib Dem)

Sue Laws (Lab)*

Vera Waters (Cons)

Short Heath

Carl Brown (Lab)

Bal Chattha (Cons)

Darren Hazell (UKIP)*

Benjamin Hodges (Lib Dem)

St Matthews

Shaheen Choudhury (Indep)

Arfan Matloob (Cons)

Aftab Nawaz (Lab)*

Susan Webster (Green)

Streetly

David Morgan (Lab)

Suky Samra (Cons)*

Kartar Uppal (Lib Dem)

Willenhall North

Oliver Butler (Cons)

Carol Fletcher (Lib Dem)

Liz Hazell (UKIP)*

Bob Thomas (Lab)

Willenhall South

Bruce Bennett (UKIP)

Diane Coughlan (Lab)*

Nirmal Singh (Cons)