TW0 former mayors and the current mayor of Abingdon are not seeking re-election to the town council in the local elections on May 3.

They are the present mayor, Peter Green, his wife, Hilary, and Keith Hasnip.

The latter's wife, Audrey, is also bowing out alongside another long-standing councillor, Alan Bryden. All are Liberal Democrats.

There are 49 candidates from the Liberal Democrat, Conservative, Labour and Green parties for the 21 seats in seven wards.

The Lib Dems are fielding 21 candidates, as are the Tories. Labour has put forward six candidates and the Green Party one.

The ruling Lib Dems have 16 seats on the council, followed by the Tories, with five. Tory ranks were swelled last month when Paul Campbell quit the Lib Dems and crossed the floor. He is standing under the blue banner in Caldecott, his old ward.

The mayor, Mr Green, will find himself in the unusual position of holding the figurehead role on the council for 12 days from election day while not being a member of the council. He remains in place until mayor-elect Lorraine Oates is installed at the mayor-making ceremony on May 15 - if she wins one of the three seats for the Lib Dems in the Peachcroft ward.

While the husband-and-wife teams of Peter and Hilary Green and Keith and Audrey Hasnip leave, other couples hope to step in.

Tory group leader Mike Badcock is standing for Ock Meadow ward alongside his wife, Marilyn. Both are councillors on the county council and Mrs Badcock is hoping to join her husband on the Vale of White Horse District Council. Also standing for Ock Meadow is Lib Dem Tim Oates, husband of mayor-elect Lorraine Oates.

Jim Halliday, a former mayor, is attempting to win one of the three seats in Fitzharris ward for the Lib Dems and he is joined by his wife Jeanette, also a former mayor.

Attempting a comeback to the council is another former mayor of the town, Audrey Tamplin. She left the council four years ago when she moved to Cumbria but returned to Abingdon with her husband John last year.

ABBEY and BARTON WARD (three seats): Rachel Eden (Lab), Andrew Hoare (C), Victoria Jenkins (C), Lesley Legge (LD)*, Julie Mayhew Archer (LD)*, Roger Smith (LD*, Jenny Standen (C).

CALDECOTT (three seats): Dave Banner (Lab), Paul Campbell (C)*, Margaret Crick (LD), Alastair Fear (LD)*, Peter Fulk (LD)*, Elwyn McKeown (C), Nancy McLellan (C).

DUNMORE (three seats): Brian Jeffries (Lab), Peter Jones (C)*, Sandy Lovatt (C)*, Andrew McLernan (C), Jan Morter (LD), Audrey Tamplin (LD), Colin Walters (LD).

FITZHARRIS: (three seats): Jackie Carpenter (C), Dorothy Shaw (Green), Jim Halliday (LD)*, Jeanette Halliday (LD), Monica Lovatt (C)*, Di Nixon (LD), Thomas Waterhouse (C), Bridget Wilkinson (Lab).

NORTHCOURT (three seats): Duncan Brown (LD)*, Pat Hobby (LD)*, Ken Jones (C), Angela Lawrence (LD), Guy Rogers (C), Denise Watt (Lab), Yusuf Mohammed (C).

OCK MEADOW (three seats): Mike Badcock (C)*, Marilyn Badcock (C), Samantha Bowring (LD), Mervin Knight (C), Tim Oates (LD), Lorraine Smith (LD).

PEACHCROFT (three seats): Patrick Clipperton (C), Joe Eden (Lab), Peter Lewis (C), Pat Lonergan (LD)*, Lorraine Oates (LD)*, Alison Rooke (LD)*, Maurice Shea (C).

KEY: LD - Liberal Democrat; C - Conservative; Lab - Labour; Green. * denotes sitting councillor.