UKIP leader Nigel Farage is coming to Lydney as the Forest looks set to become one of the major battlegrounds in the county council elections.

The party leader announced he would be speaking at a meeting at the Annexe Inn in Lydney on April 3.

News that his battle bus will be stopping in the Dean came as UKIP announced it would be fielding candidates in all eight wards in the Forest of Dean.

UKIP deny targeting the area because of immigration minister Mark Harper.

Both Labour and Conservative parties called for the election to be fought on local issues.