SOME interesting and potentially lively contests are set to take place among candidates vying for a place on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council – and three candidates are standing on the platform of saving the mayoral constitution.

The nominations have now been published for those seeking votes in the 20 seats up for grabs on Thursday, May 6 – and the list reveals some headline-making battles.

The bitter dispute over next year’s mayor will be played out through spouses in Hatch Warren, where Christine Heath, the wife of deputy mayor and spurned mayoral candidate Cllr Phil Heath, faces Terri Reid, the wife of Cllr Stephen Reid. His code of conduct complaint about the deputy mayor, in part, prompted the subsequent mayoral constitutional crisis which will not be resolved until after the elections.

Basingstoke First Community Party, the political grouping formed by the Heaths after Phil Heath was expelled from the Conservative Party in 2008, has changed its name to Basingstoke Community Party to satisfy rules for registering with the Electoral Commission.

The three candidates the party is putting forward – Christine Heath in Hatch Warren, Tracy Dobell in Kempshott and Karen Campbell in Winklebury – are appearing under the description Saving Basingstoke Mayoral Constitution – a clear reference to the political dogfight over the mayoralty.

Mrs Heath, who currently represents Kempshott, said: “It’s important that any mayor coming along from any political party, Conservative or whatever, should not be having to go through this kind of continued attack over the fact that his face or her face doesn’t fit.”

She said she hoped for a clean contest in Hatch Warren, adding: “I don’t believe in being nasty towards people unless they’re nasty towards me – then I will defend myself.”

In Buckskin, Labour’s Tony Jones, a former ward representative and borough mayor in 2006-07, will take on sitting Conservative councillor Robert Taylor in a contest given extra spice by the presence of a British National Party candidate.

Mr Jones said his attempted comeback is partly because people are still coming to him seeking help, and partly because he is disappointed with the Conservative-controlled council’s handling of the ongoing mayoral dispute.

He questioned why the Tories, after years in control, were only now proposing road safety measures in Buckskin. And he said it was “sad” a candidate is standing for the far-right British National Party, adding: “It’s a democracy, they’re entitled to, but as a country and in Basingstoke, we are better than that.”

BNP candidate Ray Dobing predicted Labour’s reputation nationally meant the Buckskin contest would be a “two-horse race” between himself and Mr Taylor.

Mr Dobing claimed: “I’m here to make things fair for all people and to stop the slide into privilege for certain races and religious groups.”

He said he was concerned about talk of regenerating the Bodmin Close and Exmoor Close area because he believes there are homeowners, elderly and disabled people there who might lose their homes to enable it to happen.

Mr Taylor also did not believe Mr Jones was a threat, adding: “People remember when very little was done by Labour councillors in Buckskin.” He said he planned to campaign on raising the quality of life for Buckskin residents, and believed Buckskin residents “did not want anything to do with the BNP”.

Lib Dem Tom Mitchell completes the line-up in Buckskin.