THE stakes are high in the city council elections in Winchester - for the first time in years.

People have the chance to make their votes really count and directly influence who will run the authority once the ballot papers are counted this Friday.

The Liberal Democrats are teetering on the brink of losing control and even being displaced as the largest party for the first time since 1994.

The Conservatives are confident that the electoral tide is again flowing in their favour.

It is not just their opponents, including the UK Independence Party for the first time in Winchester, who are gunning for the Lib Dems.

The law of averages is too. The Lib Dems defend 14 seats out of the 19 that are being contested; the Tories and Independents are only defending two and Labour, one.

If the Lib Dems lose six councillors to the Conservatives, their tally will slump from 29 to 23 and the Tories will rise from 18 to 24.

It is a stark turnaround from 2000 when the Lib Dems had 34 seats and their overall majority was 13.

They are under pressure on all fronts. In the council estate wards of St Luke (Stanmore) and St John and All Saints (Highcliffe and Winnall) Labour are the main opponents.

Labour group leader Patrick Davies said people in Stanmore were unhappy with the way the council was being run, highlighted by the fiasco over hostels and the spurious community planning exercise in 2002-03.

Mr Davies' anger has been stirred by Euro election leaflets from the Lib Dems which have circulated in Winchester and state that Labour has no chance in the city.

He said he is considering a formal complaint to the Electoral Commission because the seats in the Euro elections are based on the voting across the south-east region not individual constituencies.

The Labour threat to the Lib Dems is confined to two wards. More significantly it's the Tories in the leafy suburbs who are coming back strong.

Tory group leader Barry Lipscomb said: "I'm very heartened by the way things are going. There is a definite swing to us on the doorsteps. I'm absolutely certain the Lib Dems will lose the one seat needed to push the council to no overall control.

"For the first time in a decade, the people have a real chance to change who runs the council."

Council leader Sheila Campbell was maintaining a brave face before the looming election day. She said she was confident that she would still be in charge on June 11.

Among the key local issues will be planning and council tax. Fears for the future of neighbourhoods is causing concern across the district. It is strong in the southern parishes, centred around Bishop's Waltham and Wickham.

Independent group leader, Jean Hammerton, also the current mayor, said: "We realise that people have to live somewhere but some areas have taken their fair share. People are keen to keep the gaps between villages."

A new and unknown factor will be the impact of the UK Independence Party with six candidates. They are showing strongly in national opinion polls which also say they are taking voters in equal measure from all three main parties.

The double of city council and Euro elections being held on the same day is also unique. It was unclear whether that would influence the poll or turnout which at about 40 per cent in Winchester is relatively high.

One omen for the election is the candidature of George Beckett, former Tory group leader, standing again for Compton and Otterbourne.

Mr Beckett was a councillor in the early 1990s, the last time the Tories were the largest party.