THE struggle for control of Wiltshire county council is under way, with 165 candidates due to contest next month's county elections.

Forty-nine seats are at stake on the council, currently run by the Conservatives, and both the Tories and Liberal Democrats will be contesting each of them.

Labour will fight 42 of the seats and there will be ten Green Party candidates, nine Independents, four UK Independence Party nominees and two candidates fielded by the Devizes Guardians.

The county council contests will be held the same day as the general election - May 5 - and the elected members will serve for four years.

In the past, 47 councillors have represented 47 electoral divisions.

This time, the number of representatives has in-creased to 49 - but the number of divisions has been cut to 46.

The new framework has been set up following a review by the Boundary Commission and, in Salisbury, sees the disappearance of such old established city wards as Bemerton, Harnham, St Mark, St Paul and St Martin.

They are replaced with three new wards - Salisbury East and Salisbury South, which each have two seats, and Salisbury West, with one seat.

Altogether, there are 11 divisions in south Wiltshire and each will be contested at the May 5 polls. There will also be fights in three Kennet divisions, which border the Journal's circulation area.

About a dozen existing councillors have decided to stand down this time.

They include two Salisbury members - Peter Chalke, who led the Conservative group at County Hall for many years, and Paul Sample, a former leader of the Liberal Democrats group.

But a former Labour group leader, Ricky Rogers, a one-time mayor of Salisbury, is seeking to make a comeback as Labour candidate in the new Salisbury West division.

Meanwhile, last year's city mayor, Bobbie Chettleburgh (Lib-Dem), is bidding for a county council seat in Salisbury South.

One of the most intriguing battles of the campaign will be in Amesbury, where deselected Tory county councillor Allan Peach is standing as an Independent against his replacement as Conservative candidate, John Noeken.