FEWER than one in three people cast their vote on May 1 - the lowest turnout in a Wyre Forest district election since 1998.

The final number of ballot papers handed in fell slightly below 31 per cent, with just two out of the 14 wards rising above 35 per cent.

It was again down to Wolverley to keep the average figure from plummeting as one in two people exercised their right to vote in the ward.

Yet even this was more than 10 per cent down on the last time Wolverley went to the polls for a district election in 1999.

Alan Pilgrim, elections officer at Wyre Forest District Council, said: "The figure was about what we expected.

"In other years there have been local issues which increased turn out such as Kidderminster Hospital and the planned incinerator."

Mr Pilgrim said the council was awaiting a report by the Electoral Commission into how numbers could be boosted.

He said postal votes would give a bigger turn out - a suggestion supported by Herefordshire's move to make voting by mail mandatory this year, boosting turnout to 61 per cent.

However, he said such a bold move would be an extremely laborious task for the council and could leave votes open to fraud.