IT IS literally all to play for in the Winchester City Council elections next Thursday.

Every seat is to be contested for the first time since 2002 and only the second time since 1976.

The all-out election has been caused by boundary changes and the reduction of the number of seats from 57 to 45.

These elections are important as they establish the foundations for the next four years.

That reorganisation has produced uncertainty, with the contest given added spice by the standing of an organised group of five Winchester Independents in the city wards.

The Greens are contesting 10 seats and the UK Independence Party are contesting six.

Those independents, led by former Lib Dem councillor Judith Martin, have formed out of the anger over the botched Silver Hill scheme, and concerns over a possible leisure centre at Bar End and the redevelopment of Station Approach.

But their success would be a huge shock as the city wards have not elected any independents for decades.

The Conservatives currently have 33 councillors, the Liberal Democrats 22 and Labour two.

Labour is vulnerable as their ward, St John and All Saints, covering the Highcliffe and Winnall council estates, is being swallowed up by the Tory strongholds of St Michaels and the Lib Dem bastion of St Bartholomew.

Independent leader Ms Martin said they had concerns about the cabinet-style system and the independents want to see a return to a committee system.

She said also key was more genuinely affordable housing – the city council requires developers to deliver 40 per cent affordable housing.

“It doesn’t seem to try very hard [to enforce it],” she said. “Because there isn’t any coherent masterplan for the city, developers pick sites off piecemeal. They run rings around the council.”

The Conservatives currently have a comfortable majority and have been tightening their grip on the council in recent years.

Council leader Cllr Stephen Godfrey said doorstep issues were jobs, affordable housing, but also more facilities like the potential new leisure centre at Bar End and city centre parking.

“Housing is a big problem because it’s far too expensive for people, for young adults, to be able to afford to live here and that’s not right,” he said.

“The Conservative council has been building our own council homes. We’re encouraging development partners to build affordable homes so it’s possible for people of all means to live in Winchester.”

He said he did not think the halting of Silver Hill would be a key issue, adding: “People acknowledge that we’re starting a new scheme which people will be able to contribute to in the fullness of time."

The Lib Dem leader Lucille Thompson is confident that the party has stopped the rot that has seen the party suffer from the unpopularity of the coalition in government that ended in 2015.

She said: “The reaction on the doorstep has completely changed since a year ago. We are out of the coalition and getting a much more positive response. We are hoping to poll strongly. There is all to play for.”

Cllr Thompson said they hoped to exploit the disastrous handling of Silver Hill. “The Conservatives have been in power for the last five years and were responsible for the decisions to alter the 20089 scheme that led to judicial review. That has been calamitous.”

Patrick Davies, secretary of Winchester Labour and a former councillor standing again, said a key issue was housing.

“It’s the current lack of local people to stay locally. This has been an ongoing problem but it has been exacerbated by government housing policies which are being implemented by local council.

“It’s the failure of the local council to contest the way they’re being forced to put up rents.”

This year the election count will be at the Guildhall on Saturday morning instead of Thursday evening. The votes will be validated on the night but the election for the Police and Crime Commissioner will be done first on Friday.

The city council count will be from 10am on Saturday morning.