THE majority of voters going to the polls in the Bromsgrove district in the May 1 local elections will find some changes have taken place from when they cast their votes four years ago.
Geographical changes to boundaries to a major or minor degree, has resulted in there now being 23 wards instead of 19 as at present.
However, the number of councillors will remain the same at 39.
The changes are also designed to roughly equal out the number of residents represented by councillors and to take account of a 4,000 rise in the district's population to 88,000.
Only the large Alvechurch ward will in future have three representatives in the Council House.
The problem there was to find away of effectively splitting up the village.
Four wards, Furlongs, Woodvale, Alvechurch and Hagley remain unchanged, but three wards -- Cofton Hackett, Barnt Green and Stony Hill have disappeared.
Cofton Hackett is now part of Hillside and Barnt Green has been split between Linthurst and Hillside.
Stoney Hill has been absorbed into Slideslow and the St John's ward.
Slideslow is made up of a part of Norton and other wards.
Linthurst, where the Tory candidate is the only one standing, has been created from half of Barnt Green and Blackwell and a small area of Norton.
In the new town centre St John's ward, two candidates, both Tories, will be elected uncontested. The ward has been formed from part of Stoney Hill and Sidemoor.
Marlbrook, another new ward, takes in part of Catshill, while part of Stoke Prior has been given over to the new Stoke Heath ward.
Voters in that ward will, for the first time in Bromsgrove, cast their votes in a supermarket -- at Safeway in Buntsford Park Road.
Uffdown and Waseley, which had three representatives, has now been split with Uffdown, which will return one councillor, and now comprises a large part of the Romsley area.
Today and for the following two weeks we are publishing a photograph and a brief description, supplied by themselves, of all the candidates standing in the election for Bromsgrove District Council.
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