You will have a chance to vote for the councillors who will represent you as council seats in Central Bedfordshire come up for election on Thursday next week.

Two seats are available on Central Bedfordshire Council for the Shefford and Biggleswade North divisions and there is also a parish election in Henlow.

Because Central Beds is a unitary authority it has a different electoral cycle to that of neighbouring Hertfordshire County Council where all the seats are up for election.

The Biggleswade North seat became vacant in March this year when Maurice Jones resigned.

The former Conservative deputy leader and executive member for health stepped down after serving on the council for more than a decade.

For Biggleswade North the candidates are: Nigel Aldis (Lib Dem); Bernard Briars (Lab); Amy Peabody (Green); Bernard Rix (Ind); Duncan Strachan (UKIP); Steven Watkins (Con).

Labour candidate, Mr Briars is a retired plumbing and heating engineer and a former Biggleswade mayor of Biggleswade.

Lib Dem candidate Nigel Aldis previously served on Central Beds council from 2003 to 2008.

Conservative candidate Steven Watkins currently sits on Biggleswade Town Council as does UKIP candidate Duncan Strachan.

Independent candidate Bernard Rix resigned from the town council earlier this year because of what he saw as a lack of positive action to represent the town by the four Central Bedfordshire councillors representing Biggleswade – including Maurice Jones.

Green Party candidate Amy Peabody previously stood for the seat at the 2015 election.

The candidates for the Central Bedfordshire seats for Shefford are as follows: Mark Liddiard (Con); David Short (Lab); Roger Smith (UKIP); Annabel Woolmer (Lib Dem).

In the Parish council election for Henlow, the two candidates are Andy Campbell and Debbie Horner.

It is too late to register to vote for the election on May 4.

However, if you are already registered you should have been sent a polling card in the post informing you of the details of your allocated polling station.

For more information about the elections, visit centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.