Who cares about local elections?

Derby is one of the key local election battlegrounds

An ICM poll in the Guardian today predicts a turnout in England's local elections of about 25% - lower than the previous record low of 28% four years ago.

Has interest in local democracy really plummetted to that extent? It's one of the reasons we've come to the heart of one local democracy - to the mayor's office in Derby city centre to be exact.

The oak-pannelled walls hark back to a bygone age. Alongside the dozens of local coats of arms, there's a certificate marking a visit by the Princess Elizabeth in 1949, and the seal marking the borough's right to be called a city.

Everything about the room suggests history and continuity, but outside, across the road in the pedestranised shopping centre, and round the corner at the 1930s Art Deco bus station that's threatened with demolition, people seem to find it hard to connect their lives with the decisions made in this office and in this council building.

Fighting apathy

All the seats on the Labour controlled Derby city council are up for grabs, and boundary changes mean it's difficult to predict what might happen. The local issues here are similar to those anywhere.

As Eddie Mair reports, in common with the rest of the country, the biggest issue for the people fighting the election is engaging the voters and making sure they turn out.

One of the key factors in any local election - the health of the neighbourhood economy. Derby is a manufacturing city and has seen heavy job cuts at its Rolls Royce aero-engine factories.

But companies here believe they're over the worst, as our Business Correspondent Hugh Pym reports.

To discuss local democracy further, Eddie was joined in the mayor's office by the representatives of the three main parties: Labour's deputy leader, Chris Williamson, the Conservative leader Phillip Hickson and the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Maurice Burgess.