Advice on offer for potential election candidates

Potential county and district councillors are being offered advice on how to be nominated to stand for election in South Cambridgeshire on 4 May.

Nominations open tomorrow (22 March) at 9am for the 14 Cambridgeshire County Council divisions in South Cambridgeshire, and one seat in the South Cambridgeshire District Council Bourn Ward. Nominations close at 4pm on 4 April.

Nomination packs and advice on how to fill them in correctly are available at www.scambs.gov.uk or from South Cambridgeshire District Council's elections team on elections@scambs.gov.uk or 03450 455214.

Advice ranges from guidelines on checking eligibility to stand - you must be at least 18 years of age and live, work or own property in the area to stand as a county or district councillor, for example - to gathering signatures from local people to validate a nomination.

Completed nomination forms must be returned by hand during office hours. The elections team check all nominations on delivery to make sure that they are valid.

Alex Colyer, local returning officer and South Cambridgeshire District Council interim chief executive, said: "If you're thinking about standing for election in South Cambridgeshire, please get in touch with us as soon as possible. Nomination papers must be accurately completed to be accepted, so don’t risk leaving it until the last minute."

Nomination papers and advice about standing for election for Mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is available from the Combined Authority returning officer, John Hill, at East Cambridgeshire District Council.