Horsham Parish Council elections - here are all 70 candidates
Seventy candidates have thrown their hats into the ring to vie for 18 seats on the brand-new Horsham Parish Council.
The council will be made up of nine wards, with Chesworth & Oakhill, Highwood & Blackbridge, and Trafalgar having three councillors each, Denne, Forest, and New Town having two each, and Horsham Park, Kingslea, and Millpond having one apiece.
Labour and Green have nominated 18 candidates each, the Liberal Democrats have nominated 16, the Conservatives have nominated nine, Reform have nominated six, two people have stood as Independents, and one for The Peace Party.
Approval to establish the new council was given in November following a community governance review. With the district council set to be dissolved to make way for a unitary authority covering a much larger area, concerns were raised about residents feeling distanced from their elected representatives.
The idea of the Town Council is to keep a local voice when it comes to decision-making.
It will have similar powers to those of all the parish councils that represent communities across the district, with the new councillors deciding which services to provide.
Once the elections are over, the Town Council is likely to be renamed Horsham Town Council.
The candidates for the May 7 elections are:
Chesworth & Oakhill (three seats): Jollyon Benn (Green), Edward Blacklock (Green), Jim Duggan (The Peace Party), Matthew Foss (Con), Scott Gilfillan (Lab), Nick Grant (Lib Dem), Carol Hayton (Lab), Amy Isted (Green), Jon Olson (Lib Dem), Vanessa Rustom (Lab), Diane Sumpter (Ind)
Denne (two seats): Benjamin Brace (Green), Ross Dye (Con), Roxanne Mashari (Green), Garry Mortimer-Cook (Lib Dem), Kevin O'Sullivan (Lab), David Smith (Ref), Karen Symes (Lab), Jonathan Taylor (Lib Dem)
Forest (two seats): Nicola Gardner (Lab), Jon Jones (Ref), Jay Mercer (Lib Dem), Ian Nicol (Green), David Skipp (Lib Dem), Michael Symes (Lab), Kim Wakefield (Green), Kimberley Williams (Con)
Highwood & Blackbridge (three seats): David Ashley (Green), Raymond Chapman (Lab), Simon Clare (Ref), Aubrey Claridge (Lib Dem), Ruth Fletcher (Lib Dem), Joseph Francis (Green), Thomas Haydon (Lab), Sian Jones (Green), Joe Pollard (Lab), David Thompson (Con)
Horsham Park (one seat): Jen Nuin Smith (Green), Jack Nye (Ref), Amelie Roland-Gosselin (Lib Dem), Ros Shiel (Lab), Charlie Willson (Con)
Kingslea (one seat): Louis Bickerdike (Ref), Aaron Courteney-Smith (Con), Sara Loewenthal (Lab), Sam Raby (Lib Dem), Florian Yeates (Green)
Millpond (one seat): Michael Gaylard (Lab), Steve Makin (Lib Dem), Christian Mitchell (Con), Robert Nye (Ref), Charlotte Owen-Burge (Green)
New Town (two seats): Sam Albrow (Lib Dem), David Hide (Lab), Donald Mahon (Lab), Nick Robbins (Lib Dem), Samantha Taylor (Green), Claire Vickers (Con), Margaret Weir-Wilson (Green)
Trafalgar (three seats): Martin Boffey (Lib Dem), Colin Bush (Ind), Mark Francis (Green), Christopher Franke (Lib Dem), Tony Frankland (Lib Dem), Gerard Kavanagh (Lab), Joanne Kavanagh (Lab), Adam Key (Lab), Cheryl Sweeney (Con), Sandra Vallens (Green), Morag Warrack (Green).