VOTERS go to the polls tomorrow in a contest for a vacant seat on Durham County Council.

Although the outcome of the by-election for the Durham South seat will have little bearing on the balance of power at County Hall, where Labour holds a strong majority, it is expected to be keenly fought.

Labour won the newly created seat in last May's county council election, staged on the same day as the General Election, but edged past the Liberal Democrats by fewer than 100 votes.

The seat takes in a large area south of Durham City, including the villages of Bowburn, Shincliffe, High Shincliffe, Sherburn House, Croxdale, Sunderland Bridge, Tursdale and Hett.

The by-election was called after last May's successful candidate, Donna Whitfield, the former consistuency secretary of ex-Durham MP Gerry Steinberg, stood down when she was appointed to a post on Sedgefield Borough Council before Christmas.

North Durham magistrates' chairman Abiodun Macdonald Williams, better known as "Mac", an ex-city council health and safety officer, is standing for Labour.

The Liberal Democrat candidate is again Isabell Lunan, a former utility company sales and marketing officer, who came a close second last May.

The Conservative representative, local party activist Michael Fishwick, who is co-ordinator of Durham and Chester-le-Street Patient and Public Involvement Forum, works for a Durham rural charity.

Votes will be counted and the result announced at Bowburn Community Centre on the evening of the poll. The result is expected at about 10pm.

Labour holds 53 seats at County Hall, with five Lib Dems, three Independents and two Conservatives.