VOTERS in Worcester will soon be heading to the polls in elections which could affect the make-up of Worcester City Council.
With 12 seats up for grabs at the Guildhall, the Conservatives will be looking to hold onto their majority on Thursday, May 5, but with Labour only four seats behind the party will be looking to make gains.
Two familiar faces are making a bid to return to the council, with former mayor Dr David Tibbutt standing in Battenhall and Francis Lankester, who once served in the city’s Conservative cabinet, contesting the Rainbow Hill seat where he’ll go head-to-head with the Labour group leader Coun Adrian Gregson.
Battenhall will be a key seat to watch with the Green Party’s Louis Stephen, who lost out by just 112 votes in 2014, hoping to go one step further and win the seat this time round.
But he’ll battle Dr Tibbutt as the Tories look to hold the seat after veteran Coun Robert Rowden decided to step down.
In Cathedral Ward incumbent Labour councillor Lynn Denham, who won her seat by just 60 votes in 2012, will face a stiff challenge from Conservative candidate Barry Macgabhann as the Tories look to see if they can increase their majority by taking the seat.
And there could be a heated contest in St Stephens as the Conservatives look to oust Green Party councillor Neil Laurenson after he defeated the Tories four years ago to become the Green’s first councillor at the Guildhall.
A full list of candidates is as follows:
Arboretum Ward:
Susan Avery (Green Party)
Joy Squires (Labour)
John Stenson (Conservative)
Battenhall Ward:
Philip Ashwell (Labour)
Jackie Brooks (UKIP)
Louis Stephen (Green Party)
David Tibbutt (Conservative)
Bedwardine Ward:
Alan Amos (Conservative)
James Goad (UKIP)
Peter McNally (Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts)
Mike Mullins (Liberal Democrats)
Nicola Porter (Green Party)
Ceri Stalker (Labour)
Cathedral Ward:
Lynn Denham (Labour)
Hazel Finch (UKIP)
Barry Macgabhann (Conservative)
Jane Moorhouse (Green Party)
Claines Ward:
Mel Allcott (Liberal Democrats)
Mark Hulme (UKIP)
Robert Lodge (Labour)
Peter Robinson (Green Party)
James Stanley (Conservative)
Gorse Hill Ward:
Linda Bell (British Resistance)
Roger Berry (Labour)
Paul Hickling (UKIP)
Alex Rugg (Conservative)
Paul Snookes (Green Party)
Nunnery Ward:
Tracey Biggs (Labour)
Graham Greenberg (UKIP)
Phoenix Jones (Conservative)
Carl Mason (British Resistance)
Barbara Mitra (Green Party)
Rainbow Hill Ward:
Marjory Bisset (Green Party)
David Carney (UKIP)
Adrian Gregson (Labour)
Francis Lankester (Conservative)
St Clement Ward:
Paul Boyes (UKIP)
Simon Geraghty (Conservative)
Peter Nielsen (Green Party)
Jordan Powell (Labour)
St John Ward:
Christine Cawthorne (Labour)
Mark Davies (Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts)
Irene Deamer (Conservative)
Alan Draper (British Resistance)
Rob Menzies (UKIP)
Richard Morris (Green Party)
Adam Warner (Liberal Democrats)
St Stephen Ward:
Saiful Islam (Labour)
Nicholas Jordan (UKIP)
Neil Laurenson (Green Party)
Jenna Mitchell (Conservative)
Warndon Ward:
Owen Clearly (UKIP)
Cajetan Iwunze (Conservative)
Alison Morgan (Green Party)
Elaine Williams (Labour)
