Chance for people to stand in local election

Anyone wanting to stand for election to Scarborough or its parish councils can now apply.

Scarborough Borough Council has issued notices for i ts borough and parish elections, which will take place on Thursday May 7.

All borough and parish council seats are up for election.

Nomination packs are available for anyone who wishes to stand as a candidate in one of the 25 Scarborough Borough Council wards or one of the 39 parish councils in the borough.

A number of existing councillors have already said they will not be standing i n May, meaning there will be a number of new faces on the borough council this year. Packs can be obtained by:

Downloading from www. scarborough.gov.uk/elections

Emailing electors@scarborough.gov.uk

Calling the Elections Office Monday to Friday between office hours (8.30am to 5pm) on 01723 232309

Writing to Electoral Servi ces, Town Hall, St Nicholas Street, Scarborough YO11 2HG

Visiting one of the Customer First centres at St Nicholas Street, Scarborough, Whitby Tourist Information Centre or John Street, Filey.

The deadline for returning completed nomination papers is 4pm on Thursday April 9 and they must be returned to: The Returning Officer, Town Hall, St Nicholas Street, Scarborough YO11 2HG.

Nomination papers cannot be handed in at Filey or Whitby.

The notice of the General Election won’t be issued until after Parliament is dissolved on March 30 but it is due to be held on 7 May, the same day as the borough and parish elections.

Anyone not on the register of electors will not be able to vote in any of the elections.

There is still time for people to register and this can be done online at www.gov.uk/registerto-vote before the deadline of Monday April 20.

Anyone who will be on holiday on 7 May can apply to vote by post or proxy, which is someone that can vote on their behalf but at the named elector’s usual polling station.

More i nformation about this can be found on the council’s website www.scarborough.gov.uk/elections.