It comes as the city council has seen a slight change in its political make-up following some recent developments with councillors. A vacancy for the Scotforth East ward, near Lancaster University, has arisen after former Labour councillor Sophie Maddocks resigned from the city council for personal reasons. The candidates for the seat are Mark Andrew Arnell from Galgate, standing for Labour and the Co-operative Party; Malcolm Martin of Lancaster, standing for the Liberal Democrats; Andrew Robert Otway of Lancaster, for the Green Party; and Timothy Wood of Lancaster, for the Conservative Party. Voting wil take place on Thursday October 3 between 7am and 10pm. Scotforth East is usually represented by two city councillors. Labour’s Jason Wood is the ward’s other councillor. Lancaster City Council currently has 22 Green Party councillors, who have become the largest political group, followed by Labour with 21 councillors. Former Labour councillor Phil Bradley recently left the group and became an independent. The city council has a shared administration with leading Green, Labour and Lib-Dem councillors in the cabinet. Following next week’s by-election result, places on the council’s different committees will be reviewed and allocated on the size of each political group. At this week’s full council meeting there was a requirement to review current political representation on committees following the summer’s changes. Recommendations included proposals for the Greens to get an extra seat on the planning committee and the Conservatives to gain a seat on the appeals committee. But the meeting also acknowledged that further change may arise from next week’s by-election, depending on the result, so more committee changes could follow. The Conservative group became smaller at this year’s local election, and currently has five councillors. There are seven Lib-Dems, three Morecambe Bay Independents and two other Independents.
