Election '97 : Shires at stake in the poll that parties forgot

Voters across the shires of England might not yet have registered the fact, but on 1 May they will have two ballots to cast.

Parallel to the general election, some 3,300 seats in county and new unitary councils are being contested. So far the silence has been deafening. Party headquarters have been largely indifferent. Yet on the result hangs control of England's biggest education authorities and, depending on swing, who runs the newly formed Local Government Association.

The local hope is that voters will distinguish between the performance of councillors and MPs bearing the same party label. The leader of Bedfordshire Tories, Philip Hendry, reports doorstep conversations to the effect "you will get my vote but your party certainly will not". The Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Hills, agrees. "The headline poll figures ignore regional and local voting intentions," he said.

The last county elections were in 1993, when Labour and the Liberal Democrats swept a majority of previously Tory councils into the "no overall control" category. Conventional wisdom says the Tory position should improve - but that depends on whether national swings apply locally.

Councillors admit the public is often confused about who is actually in control of county hall. In Bedfordshire no single party has had a majority since the early Eighties. Arithmetic there is further complicated by the fact this is the first election since Luton was excised from the county. The car-making town is now a "unitary" - it runs its own education and social services separate from the county.

Stakes are high in neighbouring Oxfordshire where all three parties assented to a 1997-98 budget some pounds 6m in excess of the Government's limit. In a fit of pre-election funk the Secretary of State for the Environment, John Gummer, postponed his decision on whether to veto it and insist new council tax demands were issued for a lower figure. This is one of the first decisions facing his successor - if there is one.

Oxfordshire's Liberal Democrat leader Dermot Roaf is hoping for a rash of tactical voting, with people splitting their tickets in order to oust the county's Tory MPs.

Comparison with past voting is made more difficult in areas such as Blackburn where elections are taking place on new boundaries for a new kind of council. In Blackburn, till now a district of Lancashire, voters are being asked to choose the members of a new unitary, Blackburn with Darwen.

Labour was solidly in charge of the old Blackburn and its leader Malcolm Doherty says he is happy to fight on its record, including a 9 per cent increase in council tax this year. But Labour strength on Lancashire county may be affected by the loss of Blackburn and Blackpool, also a new unitary.

Would a new Labour Blackburn be demanding extra grants from a new Labour government? "We have no illusions, "Mr Doherty said, "we will be patient."

Casting your vote in the county elections

Elections take place on 1 May in 35 English shire counties and 19 new 'unitary' councils. Some 3,200 seats are up for grabs. In addition a third of the seats on the Kingston upon Hull and Bristol city councils are being contested and all 42 seats on Malvern Hill district council. In some areas there are individual by-elections caused by death and resignations.

Polling hours have been extended to match those for the parliamentary elections (7am to 10pm). Local ballot papers will be a different colour but will be put into the same box as parliamentary votes. In most areas counting will not begin until the morning of Friday 2 May and results are unlikely to be declared before Friday afternoon.

The last county elections were in 1993 but since then Avon, Cleveland, Humberside and Berkshire have been abolished, Rutland and the Isle of Wight have become unitary councils and several have shrunk in size as a result of the creation of new unitary districts inside them. The new unitaries up and running include Poole, Portsmouth, Bristol, Brighton and Bournemouth. The last tranche of unitaries start operating on 1 April next year and it is for their 'shadow' councils that elections take place on 1 May.

During the year to come existing county councillors for such towns as Peterborough, Warrington and Nottingham will continue in office, but will not be allowed to vote on county issues. On 1 April next year the existing Hereford and Worcester county splits into a unitary Herefordshire and a new 'two-tier' county of Worcestershire.

County Councils (current status):

No Overall Control: Beds, Cambs, Cheshire, Cumbria, Devon, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucs, Hants, Hereford and Worcester, Herts, Kent, Leics, Lincs, Norfolk, North Yorks, Oxon, Shropshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warks, West Sussex, Wilts

Labour Control: Staffs, Notts, Northumberland, Northants, Lancs, Durham and Derbyshire.

Liberal Democrat Control: Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset.

Conservative Control: Bucks.

New Unitary Councils where elections are taking place: Bracknell Forest, Newbury, Reading, Slough, Windsor & Maidenhead, Wokingham, Peterborough, Halton, Warrington, Plymouth, Torbay, Southend on Sea, Thurrock, Herefordshire, Gillingham/Rochester, Blackburn & Darwen, Blackpool, Nottingham, The Wrekin.