Battleground Dartford goes to the polls

DARTFORD, England, May 3 (Reuters) It seems like any other day in Dartford-children meander to school, pensioners wheel their trolley-bags to the supermarket and mothers push their toddlers up the main street.

This Kent town is typical of the London commuter belt, the pedestrianised shopping precinct abounds with the usual high street names, threatening to swallow up the few remaining independent retailers -- ''Price Less Shoes'' and ''Cut Price Cards'' -- while the bi-weekly market bustles with traders plying their low-priced meat and big knickers.

But Dartford is also a battleground. It is at the centre of a political struggle which could see the curtain fall on over a decade of Labour's rule in Britain.

It was here that Conservative leader David Cameron chose to kick off his party's campaign for the English local elections, and unsurprisingly so: it is one of the Tories' top target seats and an area seen as a bellwether for the general election.

Dartford Council is led by a coalition between the Conservatives and the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents' Association. The Tories, with 21 seats, are the largest party, and need just two more to take control.

It is also one of a string of marginal Labour parliamentary seats in Kent; Labour holds seven here and five, Dartford among them, have a majority of less than 1,000.

In the past, when Tories have taken the council, it is said to indicate that the party might sweep to national power.

The significance of all this of course is not universally understood.

''Local elections -- are they today?'' says a bemused yellow-vested construction worker. ''I haven't received a (polling) card,'' he shrugs.

But others on the streets of this relatively propsperous town -- where unemployment is, nevertheless, above the national average, exacerbated by the recent closure of a local paper mill -- have some strong views.

Pensioner Raymond Lane, 77, who plans to vote Tory, says - ''I'm fed up with the Labour government. It's a case of all promises and they don't look after old age pensioners.

''My son lives next door and my sister-in-law on the other side and we all think the same,'' adds the retired warehouse worker.

Michael Raven believes the Labour party ''does a terrible job'' at a local and national level.

''They've made a lot of mistakes,'' says the 56-year-old, who is on incapacity benefit.

''A lot of shops are closing down here; we need someone to rejuvenate the area and provide more housing.'' But there is also staunch support for Labour.

Don Welch, 72, and his wife plan to vote Labour ''across the board''.

The couple, who have invariably voted Labour, said, ''We come from a working class background in south London and try to look critically every time we vote.

''I think the Labour party, in spite of some its failures, has got more of a social conscience than the Tory party -- that's what gets my vote -- and the Green party is too lightweight.'' Asylum seeker Selladurai Anandaraja, who came to Britain from Sri Lanka in 2001, has voted in favour of Labour too.

''I think Labour is doing a lot for this country,'' he says.

Others, however, are ambivalent.

Hours before going to the polls, full-time mother-of-three Nicola Chapman, 30, is undecided.

''I don't know what way I will go -- everyone says the same thing and nothing ever amounts to much,'' she says, telling of fierce opposition to plans to build a road through the local park.

Mother-of-one Lucilla Potts, 31, echoes those words.

''I always vote Conservative, but that's counteracted by my husband voting Labour,'' she says. ''I don't suppose it really matters -- they are all much of a muchness.'' Guy Morris feels the same, ''They're all as bad as each other,'' says the 43-year-old as he mans his underwear stall on the market.

The Dartford Tories might be confident of victory.

But, as the result hangs in the balance, it seems their electioneering image of hoodies and Bluetooth earpieces -- a show of support for Cameron and his ''hug a hoodie'' campaign -- has not struck a chord with everyone.

''I've never voted; I don't think it'll make any difference who gets in,'' says Dean Westbrook, 21, clad in a black hooded sweatshirt as he hands out fliers to residents going about their daily business in the commuter town that seems like any other.

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