Swanwick on Amber Valley (Conservative WIN in 2010)
Result of council at last election (2014): Labour 24, Conservatives 21 (Labour overall majority of 3)
Result of ward at last election (2010): Conservative 1,610 (50%), Labour 983 (31%), Liberal Democrats 599 (19%) Conservative majority of 627 (19%)
Candidates duly nominated: Joel Hunt (Lib Dem), Allen King (UKIP), George Soudah (Ind), Antony Tester (Lab), David Wilson (Con)

Amber Valley has always been a bit of a Con / Lab battleground and since 2003 has experienced everything that the electoral pendulum can throw at it. Between 2003 and 2007 it was a case of “Advantage: Conservative” as they increased their majority on the council from five to eleven. In 2008, the majority increased again to 13 although a slight spanner was thrown in the works when the BNP won their first seats. In 2012, the Conservatives suffered their first major reversal losing four seats as Labour gained six (including the two from the BNP) and in May (when the rest of the council voted) Labour gained control on a straight swap of three seats.

Colindale Dale on Barnet (3 Labour WINS in 2010)
Result of council at last election (2014): Conservative 36, Labour 27, Liberal Democrats 1 (Conservative majority of 8)
Result of ward at last election (2010): Emboldened denotes elected
Labour 3,259, 2,836, 2,711
Conservatives 1,175, 1,175, 1,019
Liberal Democrats 1,095, 898, 764
Greens 337, 306, 276

Candidates duly nominated by party
Conservatives: Nneka Akwaeze, Golnar Bokaei, William Nicholson,
Green Party: Maggie Curati, Francesco Marasco, Andrew Newby,
Labour: Nagus Narenthira, Gill Sargeant, Zakia Zubairi
Liberal Democrats: Victor Corney, Daniel Estermann, Sabriye Warsame
United Kingdom Independence Party: John Baskin, Khalid Khan, Barry Ryan

Barnet is so Conservative, you might wonder why the other parties even bother to stand. In the last 24 years it was not controlled by the Conservatives for just eight years (1994 – 2002) and the best that the opposition could do as a combined total was back in 1998 (when they had 32 councillors to the Conservatives 28) so although it seems fairly obvious that Labour will win three extra councillors to their group on Barnet, very little else will change.