Local election party wants to squash Orange

One of the parties in today's local elections has been set up specifically to stop Orange from installing a mobile phone mast near a local school.

The Orange Squash party is contesting one seat in the elections, in the ward of Lesness Abbey in the London borough of Bexley.

Communications company worker Gary Cripps is standing on a manifesto of stopping Orange setting up a mobile phone mast 20 metres from a local primary school.

Orange has had a mast on the roof of Bedonwell Junior School for nearly a decade but after protests from parents the school refused permission for it to stay. When the new location was decided close to the school Cripps decided to stand.

"We tried to negotiate with Orange but got nowhere. One of my neighbours first alerted people in the street to what was going on and then we began a campaign," he told The Guardian.

"I always thought there was no point in getting interested in local politics because you couldn't change anything anyway. I was meeting and engaging with my neighbours for the first time."

The battle for Bexley council could be one of the closest in years, with one vote currently deciding who runs the council.

Conservative and Labour have 63 candidates each for the council, along with 38 Liberal Democrats, 13 independents, eight UK Independence Party, five British National Party, three Thamesmead Community Party, one Orange Squash Party and one English Democrats 'Putting England First' candidates.