THE stakes are high at this year’s council elections. Local Democracy Reporter JOSEPH TIMAN looks at the key battlegrounds and possible outcomes in Bolton.

NO party will command a majority at Bolton Council if the ruling group loses just one seat on May 2.

Labour seats make up 13 of the 20 council seats up for grabs in the local elections this year. If the party loses any of these seats and does not make any gains in four weeks’ time, it would have to work with other parties to stay in charge.

Hyper-local parties popping up across the borough pose a new threat to Labour in Farnworth, Kearsley, Horwich and Westhoughton.

The Conservative group could end up with more councillors than Labour if it successfully defends five seats and wins a further six of those currently held by the biggest party.

No other parties have more than three seats as it stands, but Farnworth and Kearsley First could double in size if its three candidates win.

The Liberal Democrats, who currently hold three seats, will field candidates in all 20 wards in the borough. None of the group’s councillors are up for re-election.

UKIP still has three councillors but the group’s leader Cllr Sean Hornby will have to fight to keep his seat in Little Lever and Darcy Lever.

The council has been in a state of no overall majority since November when a prominent councillor suddenly cancelled her party membership. Cllr Debbie Newall resigned from the party last year but said she would continue as an independent councillor for the Breightmet ward. She cited “entirely personal” reasons for her resignation stating that the borough is in “safe hands” with the Labour administration.

Since then, the group has relied on her loyalty or the votes of opposition councillors to deliver their agenda.

Labour’s position was already on a knife-edge at last year’s local elections when it ended up with 31 seats after the count.

READ MORE: Here's how each party pledges to shape the future of Bolton

With Cllr Elaine Sherrington becoming mayor last May, Labour had one less vote at council meetings which she chairs.

The Bolton News understands that next year, the mayor will be a Conservative councillor.

The Tories made two gains at the last elections, in Breightmet as well as in Horwich and Blackrod, after taking a seat at a by-election in Hulton four months earlier.

Labour made one gain in May, unseating UKIP in Little Lever and Darcy Lever.

But the biggest news from the night was the success of a new party – Farnworth and Kearsley First. The hyper-local independent party won its second seat in Farnworth and its first seat in Kearsley. Lisa Weatherby who came second in the contest for Harper Green will be running again this year but in Farnworth instead. Altogether, the party will be fielding three candidates in these elections in wards currently held by the ruling Labour group.

Elsewhere in the borough, two new parties will be fighting to represent their communities.

Horwich and Blackrod First Independents will be fielding candidates in two wards as will Westhoughton First Independents. Between them, the new hyper-local parties will be putting 21 candidates forward at Horwich and Westhoughton town councils.

In Smithills, former Lib Dem councillor Carole Swarbrick, who was suspended from the party in 2017 after claiming the group’s leader was “courting UKIP”, will be stepping down.

Long-standing councillors Guy Harkin, from Labour, and Norman Critchley, from Conservatives are also understood to be standing down this year, leaving other candidates to fight for their seats in Crompton and Bromley Cross.