Tories to keep 25 per cent of seats on council

Voters in eight areas of South Staffordshire will have no say on who will represent them on the district council.

Fourteen of the 49 seats are uncontested meaning the Conservative candidates who put themselves forward will get a full-year term without a single cross on a ballot paper.

It means the Conservatives have a head start with two seats in Codsall North, two in Codsall South, one in Pattingham and Patshull, two in Penkridge North East and Acton Trussell, one in Trysull and Seisdon, two in Wheaton Aston, Bishopswood and Lapley, two in Wombourne South East and two in Wombourne South West.

The council has been solidly Conservative for years and the Tories held 40 out of the 49 seats at the last election. Mac Harris was one of just two Labour councillors and has stood down from his seat in Cheslyn Hay after 12 years on the council.

He said: "It is bad for democracy that this happens.

"We should have candidates standing all over South Staffordshire. But it's always been a stronghold for the Conservatives.

"Some of these seats have not been contested for years. I think there's some apathy. You get that on both sides. But it's people's choice not to stand."

David Clifft, one of seven independent councillors, is contesting his seat in Essington.

He said: "What we do find in South Staffordshire is that things are seldom done on party political lines.

"That may be because the Conservatives are so strong they don't need to. I was elected as an independent and that's how I'm standing again."

Matt Ewart, one of the Codsall councillors who will be re-elected unopposed, said: "I was surprised when I found out there was no opponent even though Codsall is an area where support for the Conservatives is very strong. I never took that support for granted and was more than ready to campaign.

"But if I were the opposition I would want to concentrate my resources in areas where there was the best chance of winning."