Residents across Oxfordshire will go to the polls next month to influence the future of their communities.

Four district councils - West Oxfordshire, South Oxfordshire, the Vale of White Horse and Cherwell - are all up for election on May 3.

But residents in Oxford City will have to wait until May 2008 to exercise their democratic right and Oxfordshire County Council's next scheduled election is in 2009.

A shock entry in South Oxfordshire is a British National Party candidate.

Richard Hamilton, from Buckinghamshire, will stand for one of the two seats in Henley South ward. The council is currently Tory-controlled and there are 118 candidates standing for 48 seats in 29 wards.

Surprise absences from the list are cabinet member Nigel Moor from Wallingford, Didcot's current mayor Mike McNulty, former chairman Jules Thomson and Linda Cameron from Chinnor.

Voters in West Oxfordshire will be going to the polls to chose councillors for a third of the district council's wards - with 16 seats up for election.

The council is currently Conservative-controlled.

All 51 seats on the Vale of White Horse District Council are being contested by 133 cand- idates.

The council has been run by the Liberal Democrats since 1995 and they have a 10-seat majority.

Former Lib Dem leader of the council Paul Bizzell, elected in 1995, is not seeking re-election, along with the Tories' longest serving councillor Elsa Boyce, who is standing down after 20 years service.

The council's only Independent member John Dunsdon who held the Hendreds seat is also standing down.

A third of seats will be contested on Cherwell District Council - including Bicester, Banbury and Kidlington.

The council is currently Tory-controlled. May's election will see 16 seats up for grabs.

The district's only independent candidate is David Chapman, 70, a former Conservative who is protesting about plans for a controversial housing development on the edge of Bicester.

Town and parish council elections will also be held on May 3. Residents must register to vote by April 18. For more details contact your district council.