THIS time next week – Thursday, May 1 – residents across Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley, along with those in the rest of Worcestershire will be heading to the polls.
There will be 57 Worcestershire County Council seats contested across 53 divisions, including 10 in the Wyre Forest area.
Polls will be open from 7am to 10pm when all the ballot boxes across the Wyre Forest and the rest of the county will be collected.
The count will be held at the Wyre Forest Leisure Centre from 10am on Friday, May 2, and we at the Kidderminster Standard will be there to bring you all the results live.
The current make-up of Worcestershire County Council – as determined by the 2021 vote and any subsequent by-elections – is 45 Conservative, 3 Labour, 4 Liberal Democrat and 5 others.
Here are the candidates for the Wyre Forest.
The Bewdley seat will be contested by Corinne Bailey (Green Party), Lisa Hyde (Reform UK), Dan Morehead (Conservative) Ingrid Schmeising-Barnes (Liberal Democrats) and Rod Stanczyszyn (Labour).
Among the Chaddesley candidates will be Helen Dyke (Independent), Linda Hardwick (Liberal Democrats), Marcus Hart (The Conservative Party), Philip Hingley (Reform UK), Stuart Holmes (Labour) and Wren Nicholson (Green Party).
Cookley, Wolverley and Wribbenhall will be contested by Ben Brookes (Conservative), Philip Edmundson (Labour), Cloud Gollop (Liberal Democrats), Jenny Shaw (Reform UK) and Kate Spohrer (Green Party).
In St Barnabas, Bernadette Connor (Labour and Co-operative Party), Dave Finch (Green Party), David Ross (Conservative), Anthony Upton (Reform UK) and Oliver Walker (Liberal Democrats) will contest the seat.
Standing in St Chad’s will be Brett Caulfield (Green Party), Nigel Grace (Liberal Democrats), Steven Hollands (Conservative), Marie Holmes (Labour and Co-operative Party), Bill Hopkins (Reform UK) and Fran Oborski (Liberal Party – Keep It Local).
Among the candidates for St George’s will be Mark Crosby (Reform UK), Kevin Gale (The Conservative Party), Mark Heafield (Liberal Democrats), Oskar Hyams (Green Party), Shazu Miah (Liberal Party – Keep It Local), Tony Andrew Muir (Independent) and Di Smith (Labour and Co-operative Party).
In St John’s, there will be John Beckingham (Labour and Co-operative Party), John Campion (Conservative), John Davis (Green Party), Matthew Jones (Reform UK), Suzanne Elizabeth Nicholl (Liberal Democrats) and Leigh Whitehouse (Independent).
Standing in St Peters are Keith Budden (Labour), Clare Cassidy (Liberal Democrats), Nathan Desmond (Conservative), Peter Dyke (Independent), Doug Hine (Green Party) and Rob Wharton (Reform UK).
Among those standing in Stourport – Arley Kings and Riverside are William Moule (Labour), Karl Perks (Reform UK), Timothy Schmeising-Barnes (Liberal Democrats), Alan Sutton (Conservative), John Thomas (Independent) and Clive Wood (Green Party).
And in Stourport – Mitton, will be John Caldwell (Liberal Democrats), Ian Robert Cresswell (Reform UK), Gilda Davis (Green Party), Jackie Griffiths (Labour) and Chris Rogers (Conservative).
