BASILDON Tories could make even more gains over Labour at next week's district council elections.

The Labour group has not been in a weaker position since it lost control of a coalition leadership with the Lib Dems in October 2002.

This week Nigel Smith, Basildon Labour Group leader, announced he would resign the position after the election to concentrate on being a ward councillor and the general election campaign for his wife, MP Angela Smith.

Just days earlier, Jane Dyer, Labour councillor for Vange, announced she was leaving the party to stand as an independent.

Tory council leader Malcolm Buckley said: "We believe this puts us in a strong position to take Vange. Our candidate Luke MacKenzie is local and a very strong contender. The feedback we have had is he will do well."

Following last year's local elections, Labour was left with just 11 councillors, so it is down to ten following Mrs Dyer's departure, while the Tories have 28 seats.

The Labour strongholds are Fryerns, Lee Chapel North, St Martin's and Vange.

Labour's Lynda Gordon is likely to hold Lee Chapel, but colleague Richard Rackham's margin over the Tories last year was only 248 votes. Labour's Paul Kirkman, will probably win again in Fryerns.

And Labour has a chance to pinch a seat from Tory Andrew Baggott in Pitsea North West.

Last year, Labour's Keith Bobbin clung on to his seat there, beating the Conservatives by just 30 votes.

Labour group deputy leader Allan Davies said: "According to the mood on the doors, our vote is holding up. We're hopeful of Emma Collins gaining Pitsea North West and retaining Vange, where we have been campaigning hard."

Labour veteran Richard Lewellyn is giving up his St Martin's seat to stand in the more marginal Pitsea South East, which is currently all Tory, and the Conservative candidate Mo Larkin took by nearly 400 votes last year.

Yet the stalwart could well go, and sources say he was deselected from St Martin's to make way for former Labour heavyweight councillor Phil Rackley, who we are also told will bid for the group's leadership if re-elected. Labour's Pat Rackley, Phil Rackley's wife, held the St Martin's seat last year by nearly 300 votes.

The hottest contest is sure to be in Vange, where seven candidates, including two independents, the BNP and the Green Party are standing. With incumbent councillor Jane Dyer now independent, Labour may struggle with an unknown entity, opponent Santa Bennett, a native New Yorker, and could lose the seat.

Last year, Labour's Danny Nandanwar won the Vange seat by 68 votes from Tory candidate Luke MacKenzie, who is standing again.

The Lib Dems will probably hold their Nethermayne stronghold, but make no inroads elsewhere.

Geoff Williams, Basildon Lib Dem leader, said: "The situation is pretty volatile, with a lot of discontent with the council's current policies, and we expect to increase our vote in other wards."

The BNP is standing in every ward, but is unlikely to win a seat. The closest it came last year was 300 behind Labour in last year's vote in St Martins.

I won't claim my allowance

AN independent councillor threw down the gauntlet to the Tories at a pre-election public meeting.

David Harrison, a former Labour, Lib Dem and independent Basildon councillor, told an audience of 20 at Shotgate Baptist Church, Bruce Grove, Wickford, he believes he can take Wickford North from Conservative Carole Morris.

Mr Harrison is a member of Wickford Action Group, which is campaigning against the overdevelopment of Wickford, but said he was non-political.

Last year, he came second in Wickford North with 1,021 votes, but 571 shy of Tory Michael Mowe. He said: "I still have a Tory campaign leaflet from 2002, when they said they would resist John Prescott's housing target.

"But now we are facing up to 700 homes just in the town centre and are not getting the infrastructure we need because of the masterplan."

He said changes were also needed because last year Wick-ford Tory councilors claimed £89,000 in allowances.

He added: "If I am elected I will not claim my allowance, just expenses. I say to you: Don't be a party animal, be independent."