THE Tories failed to gain control of Worcester City Council because the Conservative whip was removed from a sitting councillor facing a criminal charge.

Its gain of one seat in yesterday's local elections would have given it overall control of the council.

But that was cancelled out because, 10 days ago, the party withdrew the whip from Councillor Mohammed Altaf, who has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, effectively making him an independent.

This means the party will still have 18 seats, out of 36, and will continue to rely on the Mayor's casting vote.

But council leader, Councillor Stephen Inman, who won his seat in St Stephen ward, remained upbeat after gaining two seats from Labour and despite losing Claines to the Liberal Democrats.

"I am encouraged by the result because we have increased the gap between the Conservatives and Labour (the second largest group) from five to eight," he said.

"I think the electorate have been impressed by our clean, green and safe policies."

The British National Party failed to win Holy Trinity ward, but candidate Martin Roberts said winning 25 per cent of the vote, and knocking the Conservatives into third place was a "fantastic" result.

Labour's Geoff Williams, who retained the seat by winning 52 per cent of the vote, said he was grateful to the electors for their rejection of the BNP.

Close battles were fought between Labour and the Conservatives in St Martin's and St Clement's.

Recounts in both resulted in the Tories stealing both seats from Labour by just 13 votes in each.

This left the Labour group with 10 councillors - a record low for the party in Worcester.

Labour leader Coun Adrian Gregson won his St Barnabas seat comfortably, although the turnout in the ward was the lowest overall at just 18.3 per cent.

Former Mayor of Worcester Liz Smith returned to the authority after taking Claines for the Liberal Democrats, doubling its representation on the council to two.

Current Mayor Coun Robert Rowden retained his St Peter's seat.

The overall turnout in Worcester was 30 per cent, fractionally lower than last year and about the same as the estimated national turnout.

Lib Dems take Malvern

MASSIVE tremors were felt throughout the Malvern Hills as the ruling Conservatives were routed by the Liberal Democrats, who took control of the district for the first time.

Under a major boundary shake-up, which saw the number of councillors reduced from 42 to 38 representing only 22 wards, instead of 27, the number of Tory councillors was virtually halved.

Despite Conservatives taking control of the council in 2000, with the help of Independents, dissatisfied voters dumped them from power and instead pinned their hopes on a new future.

Triumphant Liberal leader Tom Wells has toasted what he called a "historic" night for the party.

"Which ever way you look at it, this is the big story in Worcestershire," he said. "Malvern Hills needs fresh ideas and we are determined to give value for money.

"It has been a night of celebration, but now the hard work begins."

Meanwhile, beleaguered former council leader Reg Farmer said the party would be looking into what went wrong.

"We weren't expecting it at all, we didn't feel there was going to be this sort of movement," he said.

"Obviously, we will have an inquest but it is no use looking back. We must look to the future."

The Independents also had a recipe for success, with colourful chef Wiz Clift, from The Talbot in Knightwick, and fellow candidate John Guise cooking up a storm in Alfrick & Leigh, snatching victory away from the Conservatives.

True Blue triumph in Wychavon

REDS, yellows, Independents and a Green could not dent the Tories' election dream as they celebrated a significant triumph in Wychavon.

Blue was the colour in the district council vote as the ruling party consolidated its 1999 landslide victory, taking 31 seats of the 45 available.

The biggest shock of the night was defeat for Peter Pinfield, Labour leader for Worcestershire County Council and Droitwich Town Council in the Droitwich East Ward.

Other prominent candidates had narrow escapes with Malcolm Meikle, leader of the district council and Conservatives, scraping a win by 36 votes and Margaret Rowley, Liberal Democrat district council leader, an even narrower 19 votes.

Changes to the district's voting boundaries meant inevitable casualties with candidates competing for four less seats than at the last election, with wards reduced from 36 to 32.

Battle

The amalgamation of Lovett (one seat) and North Claines (two seats) into just one ward with two contestable seats saw a Conservatives and Liberal head-to-head battle.

Conservatives Andrew Christian Brooks (previously Lovett councillor) and Paul Coley (previously North Claines) turned the ward true blue after beating Liberal Democrats Paul Miller (previously councillor for North Claines) and Janet Saunders.

The only Green candidate David Shaw, standing in Pershore Ward, polled 285 votes but was unable to stop the Liberals' biggest gain of the night with three seats in the town.

Droitwich residents, disgruntled with their town and district councillors, stood as Independents, but the Rev Ron Waters (South East Ward) and Claude Heeley (South West Ward) failed to make an impression.

Former Mayor of Droitwich, Liberal Democrat Graham Gopsill, re-entered the political fray after a five-year absence, scraping in by three votes after a recount in Droitwich Central.

Overall results saw Labour achieving two extra councillors, the Liberal Democrats 12 and Independents none.