OUR system of local democracy is approaching an important test in the form of next week's parish and district council elections.

We will be able to gauge two crucial measures of the health of that democracy - participation by candidates and the electorate.

An experiment in the conduct of the ballot - postal voting - looks as if it might work. Initial returns in Darlington are encouraging and provided care is taken to ensure absolute fairness, there seems no reason why postal ballots should not become the norm. The idea that it is necessary for voters to present themselves in person at the polling station to express their preference is out of date.

As far as participation by candidates is concerned, there is clearly a problem. More seats than ever are uncontested - particularly at parish level. Some older councillors have stood down - some of them discouraged by the "modernisation" of local councils which has forced them to declare interests - and nobody has come forward to take their place. The situation in Aiskew is critical. Mass resignations have left the parish authority barely viable. Surely a community the size of Aiskew generates enough issues for the local people to want to be involved in resolving them?

The Government's modernisation programme may have suceeded in shaking up local authorities to the extent that a number of long-serving participants have thrown in the towel. The problem is that despite this shake-up, the changes have not made the business of being a district or parish councillor any more attractive to younger candidates. Is this a problem of the system, or a reflection of the levels of interest in community affairs?