A SOUTH Gloucestershire Council by-election will be held on Thursday, May 2, following the resignation of a councillor.

Labour announced last month that Cllr Sandie Davis had stepped down from her role representing the New Cheltenham ward because of ongoing health issues.

While most attention at next week’s local elections will be on Bristol City Council, where all 70 seats are up for grabs, along with the race to be the next Avon & Somerset police & crime commissioner, there is just one by-election for South Gloucestershire Council.

Four candidates are in the running to succeed Cllr Davis.

The ward has two seats, with Labour’s Cllr Matt Palmer the other sitting councillor.

The party had a healthy majority over the Conservatives at the 2023 local elections having won more than half the vote, while the Lib Dems finished third.

The three main parties, as well as the Greens who currently have no members in the council chamber, have each put forward a candidate.

Labour, who have 17 councillors, and the Lib Dems, who have 20, currently run the local authority in coalition.

The opposition Tories have 23 seats but are well short of the 31 required for an overall majority, so the by-election result will not affect the balance of power.

There is also one sitting independent councillor.

The four candidates in the New Cheltenham ward by-election are:

AJ Coakham (Green)

Kelly Cole (Conservative)

James Corrigan (Lib Dems)

Angela Morey (Labour)