Local election to be held on 7 May 2026
The next local election is scheduled for Thursday, 7 May 2026.
The last local election was held on Thursday, 2 May 2024.
People who run your council are called councillors. They make important decisions, such as how the council budget is spent and which services are prioritised.
Each councillor is elected for a 4-year term of office and there are 3 councillors representing each council ward in the borough. Councillors are elected every year, over a 4-year cycle (with no elections in the fourth year). This means at each election a third of councillors are elected. Upcoming election years are 2026, 2027, 2028, 2030 and on a continued cycle.
Following an electoral boundary review, all 60 councillor seats were contested at the local election in 2022. This meant that electors were able to vote for up to 3 candidates in their ward instead of just one.
At a local election, people will vote to choose who they would like to be their local councillor. The political party with the highest number of councillors usually controls the council and decides how local services are run. Your local councillor will represent your views for the ward (area) you live in.
Election notices
Once election notices are available for the next election we will add these to this section.
Key deadlines
Once key dates are available for the next election we will add these to this section.
| Service area | Date |
|---|---|
| Publication of notice of election | To be published when available. |
| Receipt of nominations | To be published when available. |
| Withdrawal of candidates | To be published when available. |
| Appointment of election agents | To be published when available. |
| Publication of notice of election agents | To be published when available. |
| Publication of statements of persons nominated | To be published when available. |
| Last date to register to vote | To be published when available. |
| Receipt of postal vote applications | To be published when available. |
| Last day for voter authority certificates | To be published when available. |
| Publication of notice of poll | To be published when available. |
| Receipt of proxy vote applications | To be published when available. |
| First day to issue replacement lost postal ballot papers | To be published when available. |
| Last day to issue replacement spoilt or lost postal ballot papers | To be published when available. |
| Receipt of emergency proxy vote applications | To be published when available. |
| Day of poll | 7am-10pm on Thursday, 7 May 2026 |
More about the next election
- Photo ID and changes to voting in elections - remember you need photo ID to vote at a polling station.
- Terms of office for councillors
- View your local councillors
- Find out if elections are happening for your local council - you can add your postcode to the Electoral Commission website searcher and it will tell you if elections are happening in your area.
- Look out for your poll card
- More about elections