A VETERAN Malvern county councillor who was deselected by the Tories is standing as an independent in the elections next month.

Ian Hopwood is the sitting incumbent in the Malvern Langland ward, which he won for the Tories in 2013, beating UKIP's candidate Richard Spencer by just three votes.

Now he is standing independently, on a slate that includes Mr Spencer from UKIP again, Tory James O'Donnell, Caroline Bovey for the Lib Dems, Lynne Lambeth for Labour and Dinah Sage for the Greens.

In all the other county wards in the Malvern Hills district, the sitting councillors are defending their seats.

In Malvern Chase, Conservative Lucy Hodgson is facing off against William Chaundy of the Lib Dems, John Gallagher of the Labour Party, Jeanette Sheen for UKIP and Jackie Smethurst for the Greens.

Tory Paul Tuthill is defending Malvern Link against challengers Kwai Hung Chan of the Lib Dems, the Green Party's William Jenkins, Mike Savage of UKIP and Labour's Martin Willis.

And in Malvern Trinity, Green John Raine is contesting the seat against Kaleem Aksar of the Lib Dems, Conservative Tony Baker, Labour's Samantha Kay, and Len Marshall of UKIP.

In the Powick ward, Tom Wells has just two opponents, David Barrie of UKIP and Justin Chieffo of the Conservatives.

And in Croome, independent Roger Sutton is being challenged by UKIP's Doug Guest, John Lambeth of the Green Party, Tory Paul Middlebrough and Labour's Irene Stickley.

Conservative Phil Grove is re-contesting the Hallow ward against Colin Bexley of Labour, John Drage of the Lib Dems, and Danny Young of UKIP.

And in Tenbury, Ken Pollock of the Tories is facing UKIP's Malcolm Delingpole, Lib Dem Eileen Drage, Green Stephen Main, and Labour's Jonathan Morgan.

In all, 57 seats are up for grabs across Worcestershire, with the Conservatives defending a majority of seven seats.