WHILE candidates in South Gloucestershire Council’s elections prepare for polling day, some of the area’s town and parish councillors have been elected already.
No elections will take place in 69 wards – in some cases covering entire parishes – because not enough candidates came forward to make a vote necessary.
They include Yate Town Council’s South ward, where two candidates – Tony Davis and Cheryl Kirby – came forward to stand for the two seats.
In Dodington Parish Council’s North East ward, three candidates – Richard Evans, Sarah Hurley and Sandra Jee – stood for the four available seats.
In Dodington’s North West ward, Robert Graham, Louise Harris, Paul Hulbert, Adrian Hutton and Jean Thomas have been elected to five of the eight available seats, with three remaining unfilled.
Dodington’s South ward will also have no election on may 4. Only two candidates – Christine Howard and Christopher Zapata – stood for the three seats available.
In Sodbury Town Council’s North East Ward, Seb Gibson, Becky Romaine and Adrian Rush have been elected, with two seats remaining vacant.
Sodbury’s South West ward will have no election after four candidates – Fergal Cummins, Alistair Gregson, Ian Lowe and Sonia Williams – were nominated for its five seats.
Seven candidates were nominated for the nine seats on Wickwar Parish council and there are also uncontested elections in Iron Acton Parish Council’s East ward, Frampton Cotterell’s Central,
East and West wards and both the Westerleigh and Coalpit Heath wards of Westerleigh & Coalpit Heath Parish Council.
Across South Gloucestershire, five parish council wards had no nominations at all.
Nominations can be reopened or candidates co-opted onto councils with vacant seats after the election.
Yate Town Council’s two other wards are among only 22 across the whole of the district to be contested, with 11 candidates vying for North ward’s nine seats: Liberal Democrats Aziz Chowdhry, Nicola Clarke, Mike Drew, John Emms, Alan Monaghan, Ben Nutland, Ray Perry, Karl Tomasin and Chris Willmore and Conservatives David and Suzan Evan-Jones.
Central ward’s six seats will see six Lib Dems – Sandra Emms, John Ford, Margaret Marshall, Gabriela Miron, Tony Sharp and Wendy Tomasin – line up against sole Tory candidate Marian Gilpin.
Sodbury’s Old Sodbury Ward will see nine candidates compete for five places on the town council, with Conservative Scott Gibson standing against independents Matthew and Philip Rumney, Steve Spooner and Peter Whyton, as well as Chris Anderson, Kevin Pitman, Andy Sage-Bell and Andy Williams, who are running without any label.
Iron Acton Parish council’s Iron Acton ward has six people – David Barker, Paul Chapman, Adrian Edmonds, Denise Smith, Catherine Spedding and John Wright – running for five places.
POLLING takes place from 7am to 10pm on Thursday, May 4, with counting getting underway immediately afterwards.
For the first time, all voters will need to bring formal photo identification, such as a driving licence or passport, with them to the polling station or face being turned away.