A by-election to choose a new county councillor for Evesham’s north west division will take place this week.

Voters in the division will go to the polls on Thursday (May 2), to choose a new representative on Worcestershire County Council.

Six candidates are looking to follow in the footsteps of councillor Peter Griffiths, who died unexpectedly at the end of December.

His are going to be big shoes to fill - Mr Griffiths was described as a “world class ambassador” for Evesham who helped get funding for defibrillators, benches placed in the high street and support for local businesses.

Two Evesham town councillors are standing as independent councillors - John Campbell-Muir and Peter Scurfield.

Mr Campbell-Muir represents the town council’s South ward, while Mr Scurfield represents the Great Hampton ward and is chairman of the Planning & Estates committee.

Mark Goodge, who sits on both Evesham Town Council and Wychavon District Council, is the Conservative candidate in the county council by-election.

Mr Goodge represents the Bengeworth ward for both town and district councils. He sits on the town council’s finance, personnel and town plan committees, and is chairman of Wychavon’s licensing committee.

Stephen Squires is the Green Party’s candidate in the Evesham North West by-election.

He stood for election to Wychavon District Council last year in the Bengeworth ward and finished third in the vote behind Mr Goodge and Emma Stokes, who were both elected for the Tories.

Labour’s candidate in the by-election is David Tasker and for the Liberal Democrats, it’s Oliver Walker.

The polls open at 7am on Thursday and close at 10pm - and only those living in the Evesham North West division are able to vote.

The most recent county council by-election took place in Warndon in October 2023 following the death of long-serving Conservative councillor Andy Roberts.

Andrew Cross picked up an impressive 44 percent of the vote to claim the seat for the Greens and build on Malcolm Victory’s success in the Malvern Chase by-election in May 2023.

Those wins made the Greens the second biggest party on the county council, although the Conservatives are still dominant with 42 of the council’s 57 seats.

The next set of county-wide elections is set to take place in 2025.