CONSERVATIVE party bosses in Buckinghamshire want to get tough with people who insist on standing for both county and district council elections.

In future people with a seat on one council are likely to be strongly discouraged from standing for another.

Buckinghamshire County Council now has 33 of these dual-hatted councillors among its 57 members.

Twenty two of the 40 Conservatives wear two hats, nine of the 11 Lib Dems and both of the two Labour members.

Richard Pushman (Wycombe and Bucks) said: "I have always said I am my own unitary authority. My argument is that I serve a rural community.

"They are interested in roads and planning which are dealt with by separate authorities and I don't have to say this is nothing to do with me'."

Privately Conservative office holders say the party is being lazy in its search for new blood.

And where new people do want to stand they are being deprived of a seat. Another claim is that holding two seats is too much work and one job or the other suffers.

Others say that people are picking up seats merely to add to their incomes. Two basic allowances are worth about £13,000, The last claim is that people with responsible positions on one council cannot hold similar posts on another, so council leaders have a smaller pool of talent to pick from.

The next big test is the district council elections in two years' time. One Conservative said if a dual-hatted member insisted on standing, he would be asked to accept that he would not be able to stand at the next county election.

Something had to be done soon to get rules in place he said.

Tory chiefs could also try and ban anyone over 70 standing. This was mooted for the county elections on May 5, but not implemented.

In a few weeks' time the chairman of Wycombe constituency association, Tony Green, plans to get party agents and constituency chairmen in Bucks together to discuss dual hattedness, as part of a regular series of meetings.

Cllr Green, a member of Wycombe District Council, said: "My feeling is it would be better if people were only on one authority, provided there are enough people of the right calibre."

Lesley Clarke, leader of Wycombe District Council, and a twin hatter, said she could not see the problem.

Sometimes people's problems overlapped between district and county.

Being a twin hatter meant she could get hold of officers on both councils and get a better outcome.