Ward profile: Central Hove

Candidates (Two seats)

*Andrew Wealls (Conservative) - @Wealls

Lloyd Magee (Conservative) - @LloydMagee_BH

Ray Cunningham (Green)

Rebecca Jones (Green)

Clare Moonam (Labour)

David Trangmar (Labour)

Beatrice Bass (Liberal Democrats) - @BeatriceLibDem

Jeremy Gale (Liberal Democrats) - @LibDemActually

Glenn Kelly (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition)

Nigel Furness (UKIP)

Poll watch

To be a Liberal Democrat, you have to be an optimist. Nowhere more so than in Brighton and Hove.

Jeremy Gale, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Central Hove, is one such person.

Having joined in 2009, he has previously been employed for the party, most notably as constituency organiser and researcher for David Laws, who led negotiations for the Liberal Democrats before the coalition with the Conservative Party.

Mr Gale, very much the public face of the Lib Dems locally, has worked hard in a "pavement politics" campaign in Central Hove for most of the last year.

In truth, though, the potentially-decisive question on May 7 concerns how many previous Liberal Democrat supporters will switch allegiance and who will they vote for this time round.

Some might, of course, think that Nick Clegg and the coalition have been such a success that they vote Liberal Democrat (or even Conservative). More likely, they could switch to Labour or the Greens. Or stay at home.

The results may be closer this time, but the outcome could be the same. If, however, there is a change, it is most likely to be a Conservative gain.

Regardless, Andrew Wealls, one of the city's most influential Conservatives, must surely be re-elected.

2011 election results

Candidates                                          Votes (%)    

Chris Hawtree (Green - elected) 1,006 (18%)

Andrew John Wealls (Conservative - elected) 972 (17%)

Jan Young (Conservative) 932 (16%)

Anthea Ballam (Green) 819 (14%)

Celia Anne Barlow (Labour) 704 (12%)

Caroline Anne Penn (Labour) 594 (10%)

Mark Lawrence Collins (Liberal Democrats) 347 (6%)

Rebecca Charlotte Taylor (Liberal Democrats) 299 (5%)

Factfile (Source: Census 2011)

Households: 5,377

Density (people per hectare): 130

Women: 48% (4,484)

Men: 52% (4,818)

Average age: 40

Higher managerial occupations: 14.9% (1,254)

Unemployed: 5.3% (328)

White: 88.6% (8,243)

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British: 1.6% (147)

Asian/Asian British: 3.7% (343)

Number who cannot speak English well: 102

Dependent children in household (% of all households): 12.7%

Christians: 39%

No religion: 43%

Number of same-sex civil partnerships: 90

Divorced: 11%

Living as co-habiting couple: 20.6%

Married: 23.6%

One family - all aged 65 and over: 3.2%

Lone parent - with dependent children: 4%

No adults in employment, with dependent children: 1.8%

Long-term unemployed: 1.7%

Activities limited a lot by poor health: 7.2%

No cars or vans in household: 45%

No qualifications: 11.8%

Full-time students aged 18 and over: 4.7%

One person in household with long-term health problem/disability - with dependent children: 1.4%