The list of candidates standing for election in Preston has been released.
AdvertisementLocal elections take place on Thursday 22 May in the majority of wards across the city.
Key battlegrounds include the return of Bus Station campaigner to the political fold.
John Wilson stands for Labour in Sharoe Green against Margaret McManus for the Conservatives, Gregory Vickers (Lib Dems), Helen Disley (Greens) and Les Nyogeri (UKIP).
Elsewhere, current Labour and city council leader Peter Rankin seeks re-election in the Tulketh Ward.
He faces a challenge from Tory Stephen Allen, UKIP’s Paul Barker and Independent Roger Baines.
Preston Rural North will see a new councillor elected after former Tory group and council leader Ken Hudson decided to retire from politics.
Sue Whittam seeks to defend the Tory seat with the challenge coming from Gerard Parke-Hatton (Labour), Peter Lawrence (Lib Dems) and Kate Walsh (UKIP).
In Ingol the former seat of Preston’s Lib Dem leader Bill Shannon will be fought between Lib Dem Neil Darby, Labour’s Lynne Wallace, Daniel Dewhurst for the Conservatives and UKIP’s Chris Rigby.
The Town centre ward (why is it still not changed to city centre?) sees two candidates elected as Michael Lavalette stepped down earlier this year. Labour have put forward two candidates in the ward and the Conservatives one.
Full breakdown of who is standing where and the 2010 results, when the same seats were up for election are shown in the map below
View Election 2014: Local election candidates standing for Preston City Council in a larger map
A full list of those standing and who proposed them is available on the council website.
Blog Preston will be contacting every candidate standing in the election to ask them to complete a series of questions for our candidate focus series.
What do you make of the battlegrounds? Who do you think will win? Let us know in the comments below