Calderdale residents go to the polls for local elections

Seventy six candidates will be contesting 18 seats when Calderdale voters go to the polls today in the local elections.
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The Labour group in Calderdale goes into the poll with a five seat majority over all other parties but is defending more seats, 11, than other parties.

Each of the 17 wards are being contested, with two seats in the mix in Ovenden ward.

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Labour is defending Todmorden, Calder, Luddenden Foot, Illingworth and Mixenden, Ovenden (two seats), Sowerby Bridge, Park, Skircoat, Town and Elland.

Voting day in CalderdaleVoting day in Calderdale
Voting day in Calderdale

The Conservatives are defending five seats, Ryburn, Greetland and Stainland, Northowram and Shelf, Brighouse and Rastrick.

Liberal Democrats are defending Warley.

Sitting Independent councillor Colin Raistrick is stepping down this year in Hipperholme and Lightcliffe.

With 26 seats needed for an overall majority, Labour will need to hold nine of the 11 seats it is defending, or make compensatory gains elsewhere, to retain overall control.

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Retiring councillors this year include Coun Bob Metcalfe (Lab) in Town ward, Susan Press (Lab) at Todmorden, and Bryan Smith (Lab), who has had to vacate his seat for health reasons which is why two seats are being contested in Ovenden, as well as Colin Raistrick (Ind) in Hipperholme and Lightcliffe.

Those contesting seats this year include Mayor-elect Angie Gallagher, who is looking to defend her Elland seat for Labour, and Conservative group leader Steven Leigh, seeking to defend his Ryburn seat.

Candidates standing in Calderdale in 2022 are as follows (* denotes sitting councillor).

Brighouse: Howard Blagbrough (Con)*, Frank Malcolm Darley (Lab), Michael James Sutton (Lib Dem), Adrian Thompson (Green).

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Calder: Christine Bampton-Smith (Lib Dem), Sarah Courtney (Lab)*, Helen Claire Lasham (Freedom Alliance – Stop the Great Reset), Alan McDonald (Green), Jill Smith-Moorhouse (Con).

Elland: Javed Bashir (Lib Dem), Barry Crossland (Green), Angie Gallagher (Lab)*, Joseph Paul Stephen Matthews (Con).

Greetland and Stainland: Jacob Cook (Con)*, Jacquelyn Haigh (Green), Rahat Ullah Khan (Lab), Christine Prashad (Lib Dem).

Hipperholme and Lightcliffe: Israr Ahmed (Lab), Joe William Atkinson (Con), Elaine Hey (Green), Jennie Rigg (Lib Dem).

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Illingworth and Mixenden: Laura Beesley (Green), Nikki Kelly (Con); Sean Loftus (Ind), Alexander Parsons-Hulse (Lib Dem), Dan Sutherland (Lab)*.

Luddenden Foot: Abbie Carr (Lib Dem), Craig Ashton Oates (Con), Scott Patient (Lab)*, Kate Sweeny (Green).

Northowram and Shelf: Stephen Baines (Con)*, Catherine Jane Crosland (Lib Dem), Martin Hey (Green), David Wager (Lab).

Ovenden (two seats): Jean Andrea Bellenger (Lib Dem), Stuart Cairney (Lab), Catherine Graham (Green), Peter John Hunt (Con), Finn Jensen (Green), Helen Rivron (Lab)*, Andrew Tagg (Con).

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Park: Shazad Fazal (Lab)*, Mark Mullany (Green), Abdul Rehman (Lib Dem), Shakir Saghir (Con).

Rastrick: Regan Dickenson (Con)*, Peter Judge (Lab), Matthew Lawson (Green), Richard Arthur Phillips (Lib Dem).

Ryburn: Freda Davis (Green), Steven Leigh (Con)*, Leah Webster (Lab), Peter Wilcock (Lib Dem).

Skircoat: Kathleen Haigh-Hutchinson (Lib Dem), John Michael Holdsworth (Con), Colin Hutchinson (Lab)*, Phil Whitbread (Green).

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Sowerby Bridge: David Booth (Green), Mark Llewellyn Edwards (Con), Dot Foster (Lab)*, Tom Stringfellow (Lib Dem).

Todmorden: Helen Brundell (Lab), Chris Jackson (National Front), Naveed Khan (Con), Nikki Stocks (Lib Dem), Kieran Turner (Green).

Town: Elliot Hey (Green), Penny Hutchinson (Con), Rosemary Tatchell (Lib Dem), Joe Thompson (Lab).

Warley: Dave Budge (Ind), Martin Robert Davies (Freedom Alliance – Freedom for the People), Vishal Gupta (Con), Amanda Parsons-Hulse (Lib Dem)*, David Veitch (Lab), Katie Witham (Green).