BECAUSE St John's is so close to Worcester city centre, many of the issues councillors have to deal with affect the whole city.

Local singer Jamie Knight has spent the last year trying to get the city council and police to agree to an alcohol ban along the Hylton Road riverside, but without any luck so far.

Anti-social behaviour was also an issue at St Clement's churchyard until an alcohol ban was approved last year.

Car ownership in the ward is very low - 30 per cent of households go without one, compared with a county average of only 17 per cent.

The closeness of the ward to the city centre and the University of Worcester also makes it ideal for students, which helps explain why 33 per cent of residents over 16 are unmarried, compared to a county average of 25 per cent.

The ward has three councillors, including Sam Arnold of the Labour party, who appeared on television in March on a show called Why Women Leave Their Kids.

Councillor Margaret Layland also serves the ward as an independent, along with Coun Dave Candler, from the Labour Party, with the latter up for re-election.

CANDIDATES

ROB CAMPBELL, Conservative

Rob Campbell says he is committed to working to enhance the quality of life for local people - tackling anti-social behaviour, litter issues, parking problems and delivering better activities for teenagers.

He says the Conservative-led city council has made a good start on these issues - with more litter and dog bins, litter blitzes, funding for community support officers to issue fines for these offences, empowering local people to manage community facilities and keeping the city council element of the tax bill to 2.5 per cent for the fourth year.

If elected he would lobby for more CCTV, park and play area improvements and the maximisation of community benefits from the university.

DAVID CANDLER, Labour

Mr Candler and wife Sarah have lived in St John's for 10 years. They have three adult children and a grandchild.

A member of the city council since 2003, he is actively involved with organisations such as Westside Worcester, the charity that runs the Green Centre at Dines Green.

Mr Candler is a passionate believer in raising the quality of life for all and considers what he says is the Tory council's persistent failure to clean up residential streets and tackle parking a disgrace to Worcester.

He wants more action to curb speeding on residential roads. He also believes road, bus and rail improvements should precede major housing and industrial development.

COLIN LAYLAND, Independent

This former Worcester city councillor has lived in St John's for 31 years. He is married to Margaret, who has been councillor for St John's for 15 years.

Mr Layland is a keen supporter of Worcester City Football Club. He is particularly interested in environmental issues and is a member of both the National Trust and the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.

Living in St John's makes Mr Layland fully aware of the issues affecting the ward.

His major concerns are transport, litter, affordable housing, anti-social behaviour, the saga of whether the Chrissies site should be a supermarket and the developments at Grove Farm and Earls Court.

CLIVE MATTHEWS, Green

Clive Matthews was born in northern Worcestershire, and has lived in the city of Worcester itself for the last 16 years.

He says he has been a member of the Green party for the last 18 years.

He has stood before in a local election in the West Midlands, so he has experience of campaigning for council office.

He is particularly interested in the protection and appreciation of open spaces in the Faithful City.

He is also concerned with drivers speeding in the city's residential areas and wants to see traffic calming measures introduced to make streets safer and more pleasant for the people who live there.

JAMES WARNER, BNP

James Warner is a sales representative and has lived in Worcestershire for 26 years.

He says seeing Worcester dragged down to Third World standards, with mainstream parties ignoring important issues, made him join the British National Party.

He says Worcester is a great historic English city, and that its Anglo-Saxon culture and history should be promoted.

He also says locals are working for the minimum wage, skilled tradesmen are being undercut and school leavers are unable to get jobs, all as a result of cheap migrant labour.

He says the current establishment seems set on looking after other countries before addressing the needs of people in Britain.