Residents of Whitworth to cast their vote in Rossendale Council election on 2 May

Residents of Whitworth will vote for their representatives on Rossendale Council on 2 May

Candidates standing for election to Rossendale Council in a whole-council poll for every single seat on 2 May have been confirmed.

All seats in every borough ward will be contested, after the previous phased system of electing one-third of councillors year-by-year was recently ended. And ward boundaries have also been re-jigged following a boundary review.

The change means voters will be marking crosses next to multiple names on this May’s ballot papers. And the next whole-council elections will not be expected for another four years. But there may be individual by-elections here and there, if vacancies arise on the council.

In the new Whitworth ward, which replaces the Healey & Whitworth ward, there are eight candidates standing for three seats: 

• Caitlin Chippendale - Labour
• Vivienne Hall - Green Party
• Alan Neal - Community First
• Andrew Ovens - Green Party
• Mike Royds - Community First
• Paul Shellard - Green Party
• Scott Smith - Conservative Party
• Janet Marie Whitehead - independent

Community First councillor Dayne Powell is not standing in this election, the party's new candidate in Whitworth is Mike Royds.

Topics during the Rossendale Council election campaign are likely to include town centre and market regeneration schemes in Haslingden, Bacup and Rawtenstall;  housing, planning, leisure centres and swimming pools, council finance, the local economy, tourism, green spaces, transport and renewable energy, judging on themes raised at council meetings. Perhaps Lancashire devolution?

Well-known councillors standing for re-election include Labour’s Alyson Barnes, the current council leader; Conservative Jenny Rigby and Community First’s Alan Neal. Labour’s Andy MacNae is also standing again and, separately, is Labour’s Rossendale & Darwen candidate for the Westminster general election this year.,

However, David Foxcroft, the borough’s outgoing Conservative opposition leader is not standing for re-election. After eight years in local politics, he said he is taking a break to focus on his family. But he said local politics remains vitally important.

He, Jenny Rigby and Scott Smith have all made headlines in recent weeks regarding accusations and rows at Rossendale Council meetings about issues including the former Lancashire Empty Homes scheme.

Elsewhere, veteran councillors standing again for re-election include Jimmy Eaton, who was an independent but is now standing for Labour; and Anne Cheetham for the Conservatives.

There are also Green Party challengers across the borough, which has had one elected Green councillor in recent times, Julie Adshead, and independent Janet Whitehead is standing for re-election too.

Robbie Macdonald, Local Democracy Reporting Service