The local elections of Thursday 6 May are drawing ever nearer, and a list has been published of all the candidates standing for Leek South and Leek Rural Division on Staffordshire County Council.

In Leek South, Charlotte Atkins of Labour and Co-operative Party, Jo Cox of the Conservative Party and Roy Gregg of the Liberal Democrats will all be vying for one seat.

In Leek Rural, Conservative Gill Heath, Green Party candidate Jonathan Kempster, Labour representative Matt Swindlehurst and Independent Linda Malyon will also be competing to fill one county council vacancy.

In Leekfrith, there will also be a referendum on the adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan. Voters will be asked the following question: "Do you want Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and the Peak District National Park Authority to use the neighbourhood plan for Leekfrith to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?"

May 6 will also be the date for Police and Crime Commissioner elections in Staffordshire. Electors will be asked to choose between Ben Adams (Conservative), Michael Riley (Reform UK), Tony Kearon (Labour and Co-operative), Richard Whelan (Liberal Democrats) and Deneice Florence-Dukes (Independent).

To vote in this election you must be registered to vote by Monday 19 April 2021. Registering to vote is easy and takes just a few minutes. If you have already registered to vote you won't need to do it again.

You can still choose to vote in person and our polling stations will be safe, however you can vote by post or by proxy if you cannot or do not want to go to the polling station.

Postal vote applications must be received by 5pm on Tuesday 20 April 2021. You can find out more on applying for a postal vote on our webpage about voting by post or proxy.

Proxy vote applications must be received by 5pm on Tuesday 27 April 2021. You can find out more on applying for a proxy vote on our webpage about voting by post or proxy.