Seat by seat guide

Five candidates, two seats

Wiz Clift has represented the Temeside ward, where she has lived all her life, on the council for six years. An independent candidate, she sees combating rural deprivation as a high priority.

Father-of-two Peter Davies, a Tory, wants to see lower traffic speed, more police and lower Council Tax. An ex-trade union official, he now runs a fast food restaurant.

Independent John Guise has been a school governor, helped found the Worcestershire Community Health Council and chaired Malvern Hills District Council. Supporting rural businesses and producers is a priority for him.

Suckley-based Conservative candidate Annette Savage wants to make sure rural residents see a good return on their Council Tax. She would like to see more policing, fewer potholes and better representation of rural areas.

A Leigh Sinton resident for 15 years, Mark Starr is standing for the UK Independence Party. He supports local referenda on local issues and believes in independence from the EU.

Broadheath

Four candidates, two seats

Mother-of-three Katherine Burgoyne developed an interest in local politics during time as Broadwas and Cotheridge parish clerk. A Conservative, she highlights traffic speeds through villages as a concern.

Liberal Democrat candidate Alan Forrest, a retired boarding kennel owner, lost his seat in 2000. He wants to see closer co-operation between authorities to help parish councils access Government funds.

After working for QinetiQ for 43 years, Liberal Democrat Neville Mills wants to give something back to Malvern. He is concerned about declining rural services and farms goats with wife Liz, who is standing in Kempsey.

Sitting councillor Frank Tarbuck was the first Tory to win his seat in living memory in 2000. He hopes the Conservatives will be given the chance to maintain a tight reign on council finances.

Chase

Nine candidates, three seats

Michael Angell, a Liberal Democrat, has served on Malvern Town Council and wants to see provision of affordable housing, consultation over single site proposals and closer co-operation with other councils.

A councillor for 25 years, Conservative Toby Bruce-Morgan's Hanleys seat now no longer exists. However, he has represented the Chase before. Priorities include a new Malvern hospital and preventing surgeries moving out of town.

Retired mechanical engineer David McKerracher, a Conservative, has lived in Malvern since 1996 and has served on the council since 2000. He wants to improve services and ensure sound management of finances.

Retired IT consultant Donald Pearce has used his technological knowhow to help the council formulate its e-government policy. He has served on the council for 16 years and is a Liberal Democrat.

Malvern Town councillor and Green Party member Richard Perkins advocates energy-efficient housing, doorstep recycling, support for local businesses and farmers, better public transport, community play areas and road safety.

Jon Rayner, a Liberal Democrat, represented Chase Ward for most of the 1990s and helped fight off the Tesco superstore application in Barnards Green. He works for a national cancer charity.

UKIP candidate Jeanette Sheen has lived in Malvern since the age of five and highlights combating vandalism and improving transport, schools and health services as priorities. She is opposed to England losing national identity.

Conservative Alex Stewart-Cleary points to the introduction of CCTV as one of the major successes during his 12 year-stint on the council. He opposes regional government and is campaigning for better health facilities in Malvern.

Malvern's current mayor, independent candidate Frances Victory, supports town revitalisation, Malvern arts festival, effective recycling, the improvement of facilities for the disabled and teenagers, partnership working and the modernisation of local government.

Dyson Perrins

Six candidates, two seats

Conservative Serena Croad is expecting to be a mother for the third time in June and wants to make sure there are jobs and houses for her children when they get older.

Green candidate Jan Dyer moved to Malvern to study at University College Worcester after living in Malawi. She believes sustainability should be the first priority in all council decisions and policies.

Elaine Hammond, another Conservative, wants to ensure the North Site development is well-planned and opposes the moves of Court Road and Victoria Park surgeries to Townsend Way.

Liberal Democrat Penelope Morgan has worked in nursing for 38 years. She wants to ensure competent handling of the North Site development, more recycling and that the local community has a voice.

Fellow Liberal Democrat and ex-mayor of Malvern Graham Myatt says he has the experience to make sure the North Site development is done properly. He also says the surgeries should not move outside the town.

Recycling, pavements, bus times and availability, the North Site development, healthcare, affordable housing and activities for youngsters are all identified by town and district councillor David Williams, an independent, as important.

Kempsey

Three candidates, two seats

Independent councillor Mike Biddle is a school governor and has four grandchildren. He wants to see better provision of footpaths and affordable housing in Kempsey and opposes its expansion into the open countryside.

Callow End-based Lib Dem candidate Liz Mills has experience of health care through time spent as a nurse. She wants to help the people of Kempsey fight for anti-flood measures and more police.

Retired market gardener and Tory councillor Henry Morris has lived in Kempsey all his life. He is treasurer of Kempsey church and a chairman of Herefordshire and Worcestershire Evaluation Tribunal.

Malvern Link

Seven candidates, three seats,

Beryl Hickling loves the satisfaction of being able to help people in her roles as a district and county councillor. A Conservative, she believes party politics should take a back seat in local government.

Conservative father-of-two Ian Hopwood is a governor at Malvern Link Primary School and a sitting councillor. If re-elected his priorities will be congestion in the Link and health care.

Liberal Democrat and Malvern Town councillor David Houghton-Smith wants to make the step up to district level. He identified Lower Howsell Road allotments, Victoria Park health centre and traffic as priorities for action.

Socialist Owen Morgan wants more investment in NHS, schools and transport, a minimum wage of £8 an hour and an end to Private Finance Initiatives.

Ex-MHDC chairman Pat Raven sees the Home Zone and planning as important issues for the Link, where she has lived for 40 years. A Liberal Democrat, she has been a councillor for 16 years.

Another ex-MHDC chairman is Liberal Democrat Clive Smith, who stood down in 2000 after two decades. He said the Malvern Theatres debate and opposition to a single site council HQ motivated him to stand.

Fighting to keep health facilities within easy reach of his Malvern Link constituents is a top priority for Conservative councillor David Watkins. He chairs the council's overview and scrutiny committee.

Longdon

Two candidates, one seat

Conservative Mary Unwin wants to put something back into the community by helping constituents with their problems and stopping the district council wasting money. She is opposed to the M50 junction proposals.

Charity worker and mother Julia Wildin, a Liberal Democrat, wants to fight the proposed M50 junction, keep local schools open, make bus travel more convenient and give concessionary passes to youngsters.

Morton

Two candidates, one seat

Ex-managing director of ICI and chairman of UCAS, Conservative councillor Bryan Smith OBE also chairs Castlemorton council. He wants to help improve MHDC's delivery of the services people need.

Stephen Try is a Welland parish councillor, Village Voice correspondent and village post office manager. A Liberal Democrat, concerns about the proposed M50 junction, recycling and Council Tax made him decide to stand.

Pickersleigh

Seven candidates, three seats

UKIP candidate Caroline Bovey opposes regional government and is worried that a Birmingham-based authority would not care about Malvern's dwindling community services, speeding traffic, littering, neglected roads and lack of police.

Conservative Dr Mark Draper works at the Malvern Integrated Health Centre which has recently opened in Malvern Wells. His aim is to improve services to local people and to be responsive to the needs of the community.

Preventing doctors' surgeries moving while providing bus shelters and more facilities for young people are high on Liberal Democrat Marion Houghton-Smith's wish list. Husband David is standing in the Link.

Elgar Avenue resident and Malvern town councillor Pat Mewton, a Liberal Democrat, feels that the best place to continue his work in providing services and amenities for residents is on the district council.

Valerie Myatt feels her experience as a Liberal Democrat councillor would stand her in good stead for a second term. She wants to retain green space and doctors' surgeries, stop vandalism and slow traffic.

Competence and common sense are far more important than party allegiance according to Conservative candidate John Stocks. He believes his business background will help him run the council efficiently and cut out waste.

Paul Swinburn is a Conservative self-employed management consultant and voluntary advisor for the Citizens' Advice Bureau. He is passionately opposed to regional government and an advocate of a new hospital for Malvern.

Powick

Three candidates, two seats

With 25 years' experience as a local government officer, Conservative Terence Maple feels he can help prevent taxpayers' money being wasted. He would also like more street cleaning services in his native Callow End.

Freelance musician Stephen Watkins wants to put something back into the village where he has lived for five years. A Liberal Democrat, he wants more recycling and Powick Post Office re-instated.

Liberal Democrat district and county councillor and prospective parliamentary candidate Tom Wells, a music teacher, highlights retention of local villages' character and conservation of landscape as priorities.

Priory

Five candidates, two seats

Liberal Democrat John Bibby wants to apply expertise with mechanical and computer systems to governmental systems, making them more functional and reliable. He is Malvern Spa Association treasurer and a Malvern Wells parish councillor.

Jay Draper, a Tory, believes local democracy is extremely important. She sees regeneration, careful control of building development and a successful Malvern Theatres as crucial to the town centre's future prosperity.

Conservative Roger Hall-Jones has served on the council for 31 years. He wants to oversee regeneration of the town centre, protect Malvern Theatres and fight proposals to move to a single site council HQ.

Ex-magistrate and Liberal Democrat candidate Philip Rumney supports local control of Malvern Theatres, and sees provision of local healthcare and council proposals to move to a single site HQ as important issues.

UKIP candidate Richard Spencer wants to see central government regulations reduced and real improvements made to roads and police in return for the large increases in Council Tax.

Ripple

Two candidates, one seat

Paul Beard, a Conservative, has experience as a Malvern town and district councillor. He wants to preserve the area from change, opposes the expansion of Upton Marina and the advent of regional government.

Visible policing, conservation of the environment, public transport, litter, footpaths and highways are important issues to independent councillor Roger Sutton, who believes party politics are largely irrelevant to local government.

Upton and Hanley

Seven candidates, two seats

Mother-of-two Susan Adeney is a governor at two schools, a Malvern Hills Conservator and a teacher. A Liberal Democrat, she wants to promote recycling and fight development in the open countryside.

Ex-town councillor Wendy Hands, who describes herself as a Green conservative, believes residents' views on Upton Marina's expansion should have been given greater prominence. An Upton Civic Society member, she also does charity work.

Liberal Democrat Chris Mair, who lives in the town, sees visible policing, lorry traffic through Upton, drug abuse, anti-social behaviour and Council Tax rises as among the concerns that need to be addressed.

Mike Morgan, Conservative father-of-two, has experience of fighting campaigns in his native Cardiff. He wants to ensure a bright future for his family by fighting for jobs and against regional government.

Upton's mayor and current independent district councillor, Eric White sees planning issues and policing as important for the area. He believes the independents can maintain the equilibrium between the two main political parties.

MHDC chairman and Conservative Mary Wilkinson wants more visible police and fewer lorries cutting through Upton-upon-Severn. She is opposed to regional government and is committed to solving constituents' problems.

Mark Taylor, a scientist at QinetiQ, says the £1.25 million cost of the proposed new M50 junction would be better spent on flood protection for Upton. The Green Party candidate is also concerned about traffic levels and affordable housing for locals.

Wells

Five candidates, two seats.

Conservative Chris Cheeseman wants to send a message to Gordon Brown that continuing tax rises are unacceptable by helping his party succeed at local level. He would also campaign to keep district taxes down.

Liberal Democrat and Worcestershire county councillor Diane Rayner believes in good planning, community, better services by design rather than throwing money at them, road safety and safe routes to school.

Liberal Democrat John Tretheway has been a councillor since 1989, and is also a Malvern Hills Conservator. His concerns include road safety, particularly in Assarts Road, long-term funding for St Wulstan's Nature Reserve and the proposed move of GP surgeries to Townsend Way.

Malcolm Victory says the council is in crisis over morale, costs, planning, waste management and its own future, and wants to apply Green sustainability and communication to its problem areas.

Conservative Richard Weatherill, an IT consultant, moved to Malvern after living in the Wells for 12 years. He opposes regional government and wants to push for renovation of the Wells House School building.

West

Four candidates, two seats

Freelance journalist and Conservative mother-of-two Catherine Coley, of Mamble, wants to gain first-hand experience of politics. At 34 years old, she feels able to represent younger people on the council.

John Raine is a professor at Birmingham University's local government department and a sitting Green councillor. He wants to see more support for recycling and house insulation as well as better sports facilities.

Retired fruit scientist Anthony Williams served on Bury council and wants to put his knowledge of planning into action over North Site. A Liberal Democrat, he also feels Great Malvern town centre needs revitalising.

Conservative Dr Graham Stokes was born and bred in Malvern and is a dentist in Bromsgrove. He says that prosperity comes from sound financing, and voters need to be sure they are getting the best value for their investment.