Be a Council Candidate
Across England, Wales and Scotland there are nearly 19,000 councillors serving on a range of councils.
English district councils have scheduled elections on 4th May 2023. There are no scheduled elections in Scotland, Wales, London or English County Councils. These areas may still have by elections scheduled for 4th May. The process for standing for those by elections will be exactly the same as for the scheduled elections.
The aim of this page is to show you how to stand as an Independent candidate in those scheduled elections. At Vote Freedom we are there to support and guide you through the process but please refer to the information on this page first.
Are there elections in my area ?
We have compiled a list of councils with elections on 4th May 2023 here.
If you are not sure which council area or ward you live or work in then use the OS Election Map. Click on Boundary on the left, tick relevant council type e.g Metroplitan District Council and then Metroplitan District wards and highlight show names. Then use your address to zoom in on your locality and the relevant ward boundaries should be shown.
The nomination form can be found here
For a video tutorial on how to start the nomination see here
There are a number of different types of council . Scotland, Wales and much of the more urbanised areas of England have unitary or metropolitan district councils which essentially provide all council services in an area. Some more rural areas of England still have a two tier council structure. In these areas service provision is split between district and county councils.
At a more localised level some places have town or parish councils.
To find out more about different types of council the visit UK Local government structure – How it works – Politics.co.uk
The process for standing for election as a council candidate is largely similar across different types of councils.
Council areas are split into wards. Typically a ward may elect three councillors. Sometimes all three councillors are elected at the same time and then there are no elections for four years. In other areas one councillor is elected each year for three consecutive years followed by a ” fallow year” in which there are no elections.
You can use the OS Election Maps service to work out what the council structure is where you live.
You can then visit the website of your council and search for democratic or election services to find the schedule of elections. The relevant page on the Kirklees Council website shows what information will usually be found there.
Alternatively you can use this resource to work out when elections are next scheduled in your area.