Polling stations will open around the city at 7amLouis Ashworth

The Cambridge City Council elections will take place on Thursday 3rd May between 7am to 10pm. Currently Labour holds the majority in the Council, with 26 seats.

There is a higher number of seats up for election than in previous years, with 15 of the total 42 seats contested. This year Labour are defending ten of the 15 seats, while the Liberal Democrats defend four.

Can I still register? The deadline for registering to vote, including postal voting, has passed — if you are not currently registered, you will not be able to participate in the upcoming polls. Students are able to vote both at home and at university.

Where do I vote? The address of your polling station should be written on your poll card. Alternatively, you can check online by looking up your postcode.

When will results be announced? Polls will close at 10pm, and votes will be counted overnight. In last year's local elections, the full result came out at around 3.30am.

Who are the nominees for your ward? Cambridge is split into a number of wards, with the majority of students living in Market, Castle, and Newnham. Homerton College is located slightly further afield, in Queen Edith’s ward.

Market Currently Labour

Who lives in Market? The colleges in Market are Pembroke, Emmanuel, Downing, Peterhouse, Corpus Christi, Christ’s, Sidney Sussex, and Jesus

Who are the candidates for Market? Dan Ratcliffe (Labour), Jeremy Lloyd Caddick (Green), Anthony William Martinelli (Liberal Democrat), Henry James Mitson (Conservative)

Dan Ratcliffe, the sitting councillor seeking re-election, won his seat in 2014. He has lived in Cambridge since 2008, and seeks to promote his policies on ‘private rented accommodation and our city centre accessibility review’, which he hopes will help city centre residents in particular.

The Reverend Jeremy Lloyd Caddick, Dean and Chaplain of Emmanuel College since 1994, stood previously in 2017, and is arguably the strongest Green Party prospect from their candidates in the coming election. Having previously served as a priest vicar of Westminster Abbey, Lloyd-Caddick is now a member of the Faculties of both Biology and Divinity, where he lectures on medical ethics. He previously sat on the board of the University Council from 2012 to 2016.

Anthony William Martinelli began active campaigning on local issues as an undergraduate in medicine at Gonville & Caius College, during which time he helped motivate improvements to lighting on Parker’s Piece. He is standing for the first time this year. Martinelli currently works at Addenbrookes as an NHS doctor, and his goals of improving air quality within Cambridge link to his research in lung disease.

Henry Mitson is a current student at Gonville & Caius College, reading Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNaC) and stands in opposition for the Conservatives. Mitson has previously served as chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association.

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Queen Edith’s Currently Lib Dem

Who lives in Queen Edith’s? Homerton, somewhat unsurprisingly, has its own council ward

Who are the candidates for Queen Edith’s? Joel Chalfen (Green), Manas Deb (Conservative), Dan Greef (Labour), Colin Stephen McGerty (Liberal Democrat)

Queen Edith’s has three Lib Dem councillors, including the Mayor of Cambridge George Pippas. Councillor Tim Moore’s term is ending, and the new Liberal Democrat candidate Colin McGerty has previously campaigned within Abbey ward. Recently, McGerty has fought to prevent closure of Children’s Centres, and works as an IT consultant specialising in business change and migration projects.

In opposition is Labour candidate Dan Greef, who stood as the Parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire in the General Elections of 2015 and 2017. Concerned about development pressures facing Queen Edith’s, Greef also proposes to address parking issues and claims to have saved ‘291 Hills Road’ in April earlier this year.

Chemical engineer and local businessman Manas Deb, the Conservative Party candidate stands for the third time consecutively. He has been involved with the local community for the past 16 years and focuses on social care issues and housing affordability.

Finally, local campaigner and lecturer at the University of Cambridge, Joel Chalfen stands on behalf of the Green Party. Chalfen is a Fellow of Homerton College and works as a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, having previously “worked as a community engagement officer with Cambridgeshire County Council and then as a regional project officer for the Norfolk Museum Services.”

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Newnham Currently Lib Dem

Who lives in Newnham? Wolfson, Newnham, Clare Hall, Robinson, Darwin, Selwyn, St Catharine's and Queens'

Who are the candidates for Newnham? Rod Cantrill (Liberal Democrat), Michael Davey (Labour), Connor Gregory George MacDonald (Conservative), Mark Slade (Green)

In recent years, Newnham has consistently been a Liberal Democrat ward. The incumbent Rod Cantrill, who was recently chosen to run for the Liberal Democrats as their Cambridge Member of Parliament, seeks re-election as local councillor in these upcoming elections. As councillor, Cantrill aims to tackle the housing crisis in Cambridge and offer intensive help to those in need in order to reduce rough sleeping.

Labour puts forward Mike Davey, a since retired local government officer who worked in Cambridge for 20 years and is currently Chair of Governors at a local school. Davey also chairs the board of the young people’s charity Centre 33.

Standing in opposition for the Conservative Party is Connor MacDonald, an undergraduate student in Human Social and Political Sciences (HSPS) at Emmanuel College and former co-chair of the Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA). MacDonald unsuccessfully ran for CUSU president earlier this year.

Local campaigner, business owner and musician Mark Slade is representing the Green Party. Slade grew up in Cambridge and after graduating from the London School of Economics and Political Science, spent years teaching in Russia before establishing an events management and music promotion business, ‘Deleted Scene’. As convenor for the Cambridge Green Party, Mark has campaigned for the Green Party for many years.

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Castle Currently held by an independent candidate

Who lives in Castle? The colleges in Castle are Trinity, King's, St Edmund’s, Lucy Cavendish, St John’s, Magdalene, Murray Edwards, Churchill, Trinity Hall, Clare, Gonville and Caius, and Fitzwilliam

Who are the candidates for Castle? Mark Reader (Labour), Cheney-Anne Payne (Liberal Democrat), Lucas Ruzowitzky (Green), Othman Bankole Cole (Conservative), Aidan Christopher Ulrich Powlesland (Libertarian)

Labour’s candidate for Castle is Mark Reader, a Research Assistant in Rural Economy at the Cambridge University Department of Land Economy, who previously contested the seat in the 2014 elections.

As there is not an independent candidate in the forthcoming elections, and one of the current two independent councillors is stepping down, the main competition will likely be between the Liberal Democrat and Labour candidates. Cheney Payne from the Liberal Democrat Party, is Head of Philosophy and Ethics at Thurston Community College near Bury St Edmunds.

Payne is a former undergraduate at Murray Edwards College and postgraduate at Fitzwilliam College, and started her own business as a special needs worker for young children in order to afford to study for a PGCE

Aidan Powlesland is running as a candidate for the Libertarian Party UK, but in the recent General Election stood as the UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate for South Suffolk. In 2017, he proposed the design of an interstellar colony ship and suggested the asteroid belt could be mined for water or platinum by 2026.

Other candidates include Lucas Ruzowitzky, the Green Party candidate, and Othman Cole for the Conservative Party. Ruzowitzky previously stood unsuccessfully for election in 2017.

Cole is simultaneously standing for election in the Histon & Impington seat on the South Cambs District Council. A fellow of Hughes Hall, Dr Cole is both a member of the Senior Faculty in Management Practice and the Deputy Director of the Executive MBA Programme at the Judge Business School in Cambridge.

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We talk to the students running for seats on the local councilVarsity