Race to polls as D-day now looms

Every vote counts to deliver council services

Tomorrow is decision day at the ballot box in the North Lanarkshire Council election.

A total of 52 candidates are standing for 26 councillor positions in the seven wards which cover Airdrie and Coatbridge. North Lanarkshire will have a grand total of 77 members in 21 wards across the authority.

Voting takes place using the single transferable vote system, in which electors use numbered preferences to indicate their choice of candidates.

Young people aged 16 and 17 are eligible to vote in a local authority election for the first time at this poll.

North Lanarkshire returning officer Paul Jukes said: “Every vote matters – councils deliver a large range of key services including schools, refuse collections, housing, parks, and roads maintenance, so it is important that everyone has a say in who represents them.”

The candidates standing across Monklands are –

G art cosh,Glenboig & Moodiesburn ( three councillors): Sean Cairns (UKIP), Willie Doolan and Michael McPake (Labour), Greg Lennon and Gerry Parker (SNP), David MacLean (Conservative), John Wilson (independent).

Coatbridge North ( four councillors): Ben Callaghan ( Conservative), Graham Kerr ( Green), Kirsten Larson and Allan Stubbs ( SNP), Julie McAnulty ( independent), Alex McVey and Bill Shields (Labour), Martin McWilliams (independent).

Ai rdr ie Nor t h (four councillors): Alan Beveridge ( independent), Sophia Coyle and Andy Pettigrew ( SNP), David Cullen ( Conservative), Kyle Davidson (Green), Daryl Gardner (UKIP), Tommy Morgan and Andrew Spowart (Labour).

Ai rdrie Cent ral ( four councillors): George Devine (independent), Trevor Douglas (Conservative), Jim Logue and Michael McBride ( Labour), Nancy Pettigrew and David Stocks ( SNP), Peter Sullivan (Independent Alliance), Claire Williams (Green).

Coatbridge West ( three councillors): Kevin Docherty and Mary Gourlay ( Labour), Francis McIntyre (Conservative), Caroline Stephen and Paul Welsh (SNP).

Coatbridge South ( four councillors): Jim Brooks and John Higgins (Independent Alliance), John Cameron (Conservative), Tracy Carragher and Fergus MacGregor (SNP), Tom Castles and Gordon Encinias (Labour), Gerry Somers (independent).

Airdrie South( four councillors): Agnes Coyle ( independent), Michael Coyle and Paul Di Mascio ( SNP), Jed Graham and Ian McNeil ( Labour), Rosemary McGowan (Green), Peter Owens (independent), Sandy Watson (Conservative).