Local elections 2021: Everything you need to know about the first-ever Northampton Town Council count and when results are expected

Members of the largest town council in the country will be chosen today
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The first ever elected members of Northampton Town Council will be formally appointed today (Saturday, May 7) after the historic poll on Thursday.

The new council was set up as part of the local government review for Northamptonshire, with Northampton Borough Council being abolished after 47 years on March 31.

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The town council - the largest of its kind in the country - will be responsible for a range of services that the new unitary authority, West Northamptonshire Council, does not do like allotments, cemeteries and the mayoralty.

The Guildhall, where Northampton Town Council is expected to sitThe Guildhall, where Northampton Town Council is expected to sit
The Guildhall, where Northampton Town Council is expected to sit

All 25 seats in 21 wards are being contested with candidates from all the main political parties as well as a few independents.

Here are the candidates:

Abington (two seats): Tony Ansell (Conservative), Bob Purser (Labour), John Schultes (Con), Walter Wlodek Tarasiewicz (Lab) and James Robert Tarry (Liberal Democrats)

Boothville: Ian Paul Churms (Lab) and Jamie William Lane (Con)

Briar Hill: Raymond Connelly (Con) and Ben Francoise (Lab)

Brookside: Naz Choudary (Lab) and Imogen McKee (Con)

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Castle (three seats): Jamal Alwahabi (Lab), Daniel Bell Batten (Con), Maqsood Ahmed Chaudhry (Con), Enam Haque (Lab), Maroof Iftikhar (Con) and Fartun Ismail (Lab)

Eastfield: Mobola Bakare (Con), Paul Joyce (Lab) and Tom Lawler (Lib Dem)

Headlands: Derry Owen Collins (Lib Dem), Turon Miah (Lab) and Aziz Rahman (Con)

Kings Heath: Paul Leslie Clark (Con) and Terrie Eales (Lab)

Kingsley: Lori Gale-Rumens (Con) and Cathrine Russell (Lab)

Park: Gary Campbell (Lab), David Garlick (Lib Dem) and Andrew Cameron Kilbride (Con)

Parklands: Mike Hallam (Con) and Koulla Jolley (Lab)

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Phippsville: Ifty Choudary (Con), Martin Thomas Sawyer (Lib Dem) and Andrew Stevens (Lab)

Rectory Farm: James William Hill (Con) and Keith Holland-Delamere (Lab)

Riverside: Stephen John Hibbert (Con) Jean Helena Lineker (Independent Person Caring for the People) and Matthew McNicholas (Lab)

Rushmills: Daniel George Soan (Con) and Danielle Stone (Lab)

Semilong: Gregg Lunn (Con) and Les Marriott (Lab)

Spencer: Gareth Matthew Eales (Lab) and Suresh Patel (Con)

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St James: Rufia Ashraf (Lab), Graham Neil Croucher (Resident of St James) and Brian Sargeant (Con)

Talavera (two seats): Lorraine Chirisa (Lab), Taylor Luke Cowley-Coulton (Con), Janice Helen Duffy (Lab), Ash Harkara (Con) and Dennis William George Meredith (Lib Dem)

Trinity: Nahar Begum (Con), Jane Birch (Lab) and James William Edward Thorpe (Independent Network)

Westone: Toby Birch (Lab), Michael Brown (Con) and Brian Markham (Lib Dem)

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Also being counted are parish council votes in Billing, Boddington Upper, Brackley, Chipping Warden & Edgcote, Cogenhoe, Culworth, Daventry, Denton, Flore, Greens Norton, Hackleton, Kingsthorpe, Milton Malsor, Newbottle, Syresham, Towcester, Watford and Weedon Bec.

Counters will be totting up the votes for every candidate at The Wing complex at Silverstone Circuit from 10am with it expected to end by around 3pm.

Around 140 staff will be on hand to count the ballot papers using kangaroo boards, which allow papers to be counted in batches and more quickly, before votes are totalled and transferred to a summary sheet, tallied and then put onto a master sheet.

There will be three counting halls with each ward or council spread over 12 tables of counters, some having two to count and others having five.

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The returning officer (who is in charge of count day), Anna Earnshaw, who is the chief executive of West Northamptonshire Council, will declare the results of each counton the stage once all candidates have been given the opportunity to request a recount.

Usually, all candidates would line up on the stage, however due to Covid restrictions, they will not be allowed to.

Keep up to date with the live results throughout the day by following the Chronicle & Echo on social media.