Nominations have now closed in the elections for the 20 Maidstone Borough Council seats that are up for grabs next month.

Voters will go to the polls in 19 wards on Thursday, May 3, to elect one third of the council’s members.

Residents in Heath Ward will get to vote twice, because as well as the regular vacancy, Cllr Jenni Sharp has resigned her seat.

Six political parties are contesting the election, including the National Front, the Greens and UKIP, as well as Labour, Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. There are also five people standing as Independents.

At present, the Conservatives have comfortable majority over the other parties, with 30 members as opposed to the Lib Dem’s 21 and Independents’ four.

However, the Conservatives are defending 10 seats, the Lib Dems only eight, and the Independents two. So the Tories would only have to suffer a net loss of three seats to lose control if the Lib Dems and Independents acted together.

The candidates are:

Allington

Barry Ginley (Con)

Wendy Hollands (Lab)

Malcom Robertson (Lib Dem)

Barming

Sue Black (Con)

Fay Gooch (Ind)

Bearsted

Richard Ash (Con)

Steve Gibson (Lab)

Ciaran Oliver (Green)

Geoffrey Samme (Lib Dem)

Boughton Monchelsea and Chart Sutton

Gill Annan (Lab)

Andrew Le Hegarat (Con)

Steve Munford (Ind)

Boxley

Michael Beckwith (Lab)

Wendy Hinder (Con)

Andrew Waldie (Green)

Bridge

Rob Field (Lib Dem)

Bruce Heald (Lab)

Robin Kinrade (Green)

James Ross (Con)

Coxheath and Hunton

Denise Hay (Green)

Martin Rabicano (Lib Dem)

Stella Randall (Lab)

John Wilson (Con)

Keith Woollven (UKIP)

East

Martin Cox (Lib Dem)

Tony Dennison (Con)

Hannah Patton (Green)

Fant

Paul Harper (Lab)

Stuart Jeffery (Green)

Stephen Paine (Con)

Irene Shepherd (Lib Dem)

Headcorn

Penny Kemp (Ind)

Richard Thick (Con)

Heath (two seats)

Patrick Coates (Lab)

Richard Coates (Lab)

Scott Hahnefeld (Con)

Brian Moss (Con)

Mark Naghi (Lib Dem)

James Shalice (Green)

Bryan Vizzard (Lib Dem)

High Street

Paul Butcher (Con)

Denise Joy (Lib Dem)

Wendy Lewis (Green)

Marianna Poliszczuk (Lab)

John Stanford (UKIP)

Marden and Yalding

Ralph Austin (Lib Dem)

Edith Davis (Lab)

Ian McDonald (Green)

Steve McLoughlin (Con)

North

Keith Adkinson (Lab)

Charles Elliott (UKIP)

Jenni Paterson (Lib Dem)

Jeff Tree (Con)

North Downs

Audrey Gardner (Lab)

Sarah Goodwin (Green)

Daphne Parvin (Con)

Carol Vizzard (Ind)

Park Wood

Gary Cooke (Con)

Debbie Fernandez (Lab)

Daniel Moriarty (Ind)

Shepway North

Gary Butler (Nat Front)

Christopher Garland (Con)

Jim Grogan (Lab)

Stephen Muggeridge (Green)

Shepway South

Bob Hinder (Con)

Geoff Licence (Ind)

Malcolm McKay (Lab)

South

Ian Chittenden (Lib Dem)

Vianne Gibbons (Con)