 17 seats were contested in the election, with the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour and Green parties contesting every ward.The British National Party had 12 candidates, up from 5 in the 2007 election, the United Kingdom Independence Party stood 9 candidates and the sole Independent stood in St Alphege, having previously won a seat there in a 2005 by-election for the Conservatives.Among those standing were Jim Ryan, defending Bickenhill as a Conservative, having previously won it as an Independent after over twenty years of being a Labour councillor there, Howard Allen returned to the Liberal Democrats to defend his seat in Shirley West, after time as an Independent and Peter Hogarth in Silhill where he had lost his seat in 2007.