THE battle lines have been drawn for the county council elections, due to take place on June 7, General Election day.
Fifteen candidates are fighting for the four West Devon seats at county level — a further nine will stand for election in the Torridge area's Holsworthy Rural and Torrington Rural divisions.
There are 54 seats on the county council, which excludes Torbay and Plymouth. The Liberal Democrats hold 28 seats, the Conservatives 14, Labour have four, the Liberals two, there are five Independents and one vacant seat.
Tavistock Rural
Four candidates are hoping to represent Tavistock at county level.
The present representative, Liberal Democrat Roy Cook, is retiring after 12 years as a county councillor.
Roy Connelly, a Tavistock town councillor who was involved in industrial management and marketing before his retirement, is hoping to retain the seat for the Lib Dems.
The Conservative party candidate is local businessman and chairman of the Tavistock Forward group John Taylor.
He is a 58-year-old chartered surveyor who lives and works in the centre of Tavistock.
Penny Keen of Chagford is the Labour Party candidate.
And Michael Pithouse, a previous West Devon borough and Tavistock town councillor, is standing for the Liberal Party.
Mr Pithouse fought the 1997 general election in West Devon as a Liberal Party candidate — he also stood as a Liberal in the county elections for the Okehampton
division.
Okehampton Rural
The Okehampton Rural division is a three-horse race with the present county representative, Liberal Democrat Colleen Herriman, standing down.
The new Lib Dem candidate is Kenneth Williams, of Folly Gate, who will face a tough battle against Christine Marsh, mayor of Okehampton for the third year running. She is hoping to secure the county seat for the Conservatives.
Okehampton resident Rebecca Richards-Mole is standing for the Labour Party.
Hatherleigh & Chagford
In the Hatherleigh and Chagford electoral division, four candidates are standing.
Bill Cann is the sitting Independent member and lives at South Zeal. He is the present chairman of Dartmoor National Park Authority and a member of West Devon's influential partnership committee.
Noel Cartwright, of Sampford Courtenay, a Liberal Democrat member of West Devon Borough Council, is hoping for a county seat. A former Royal Naval officer, he is regional secretary of the Tenant Farmers' Association and a trustee of West Devon Homes.
Margaret Cash, also of South Zeal, is the Labour Party candidate.
And Alan Roberton, of Berrydown Manor at Gidleigh, is standing for the Conservative Party.
Yelverton Rural
The Yelverton Rural division also has four candidates fighting for the county seat.
They are hotelier Philip Davies, of Chagford, who is standing as an Independent — he stood in the 1997 election as a Conservative candidate in the Okehampton division and narrowly missed election to government as MP for Copeland in Cumbria in the previous general election.
Gretta Madigan, the standing councillor who is currently chairman of West Devon's partnership committee, hopes to retain the seat for the Liberal Democrats.
Also standing are Robert Tait, of Meavy, the Conservative Party candidate and Lyn Woodham, of Crapstone, who fights the seat for the Labour Party.
The full list of candidates in the Times' circulation area is as follows — an asterisk denotes a sitting member:-
l Tavistock
Roy Connelly (Lib Dem)
Penny Keen (Labour)
Michael Pithouse (Liberal)
John Taylor (Conservative)
l Okehampton Rural
Christine Marsh (Conservative)
Rebecca Richards-Mole (Labour)
Kenneth Williams (Lib Dem)
l Hatherleigh and Chagford
* William Cann (Independent)
Noel Cartwright (Lib Dem)
Margaret Cash (Labour)
Alan Roberton (Conservative)
l Yelverton Rural
Philip Davies (Independent)
* Gretta Madigan (Lib Dem)
Robert Tait (Conservative)
Lyn Woodham (Labour)
l Holsworthy Rural
Geoffrey Broyd (Conservative)
Ian Knight (Labour)
* Desmond Shadrick (Lib Dem)
l Torrington Rural
Paul Camilleri (Independent)
Patricia Ferguson (Independent)
Stanley Johnston (Labour)
John Rawlinson (Lib Dem)
Jonathan Rose (Independent)
Richard Wedlake (Conservative)