THE Conservatives will be hoping to hold onto overall control of Craven District Council when voters go to the polls next Thursday, May 5.

The council has 30 seats and 11 are up for election.

The Tories currently hold 18 seats, but six are being contested including Upper Wharfedale where current incumbent Chris Clark is standing down.

He was elected in a by-election last year.

Also retiring is Skipton West representative, Paul English, who has held the seat since 1999. He is one of just two Liberal Democrats on the council and his party colleague, Eric Jaquin, is seeking re-election in Skipton East.

A defeat there could, potentially, leave the Liberal Democrats without any representation on the council, where, once, they were a major force.

Across in Lancashire, political control of Pendle Council - and indeed West Craven - is on a knife edge.

The authority is currently hung, with Conservatives and Labour each having 18 seats and Liberal Democrats 10.

There are also two vacancies - including one in Barnoldswick's Craven ward caused by the resignation of Lib Dem Richard Milner.

Those seats, along 16 others, will be contested in next Thursday's election.

In West Craven, the Liberal Democrats will defend three Barnoldswick seats while Conservative Rosemary Carroll - Pendle's deputy mayor - is seeking re-election in Earby.

Much rests on the outcome as both Conservatives and Liberals have four seats on Pendle's West Craven Area Committee, with one vacancy.

Key issues include house building targets - which would see 1,000 new homes built in Barnoldswick and Earby in the next 15 years - and the impact of spending cuts on local services.

Meanwhile there are five candidates lining up to fight for Bradford Council's Craven seat, which takes in Addingham, Silsden, Steeton and Eastburn. It is currently held by Independent Adrian Naylor, who is seeking a further term.

Next Thursday will also see elections for Police and Crime Commissioners - a role that was instituted in 2012.

North Yorkshire's current commissioner, Tory Julia Mulligan, is seeking re-election but faces a challenge from James Blanchard for the Liberal Democrats; Stephen Howley for the Labour Party; and Mike Pannett, who is Independent.

In Lancashire, the current commissioner, Labour’s Clive Grunshaw, will be hoping to defeat James Barker (UKIP), Andy Pratt (Conservative) and Graham Roach (Liberal Democrat) while in West Yorkshire, incumbent Mark Burns-Williamson (Labour) takes on Peter ?Corkindale (UKIP), Allan Doherty (Conservative), Barry Golton (Liberal Democrats) and Therese Hirst (English Democrats).

A list of all the candidates appears in the April 28 edition of the Craven Herald.