THREE out of the 15 seats on Wellington Town Council will be left vacant immediately after the local elections take place on Thursday, May 2.

Elections will only be held in two of the town’s five wards and individuals could be co-opted onto the council or a second round of elections held to fill the vacant seats.

One town councillor has suggested that prospective candidates have been put off standing because they fear criticism on social media.

John Thorne, also a Somerset county councillor for Wellington, said: “People don’t seem interested in standing and an element of that is the stick they get. I recently spoke about a grant application for the Wellington Mills Community Interest Company at a town council meeting and attracted a lot of hostile attention on social media. It doesn’t bother me because I don’t read it, but my daughter reads it, gets upset about it and asks me about it.”

The long-running debate over Brexit had caused people to switch off from politics and the increasing demands put on town councillors may have also made some people reluctant to stand, he said.

Three seats are up for grabs in South Ward but only Vivienne Stock-Williams is standing, leaving two seats vacant. Wellington East has four seats but only three candidates – Wayne Battishill, James Hunt and Ross Henley – leaving another seat vacant.

Eight members of the existing council will be returned unopposed but if Janet Reed and Marcus Barr are re-elected at Rockwell Green that will take the number up to ten. New faces will therefore occupy between five and seven of the remaining seats.

Mayor of Wellington Cllr Gary James, who now represents Wellington East, is not standing for re-election but current Deputy Mayor Janet Lloyd, and prospective new mayor, will be returned unopposed after switching her candidacy from Rockwell Green to Wellington North.

She is one of five councillors who will represent the north ward – the other four candidates being returned unopposed are Andrew Govier, Mark Lithgow, John Thorne and Michael McGuffie.

At Rockwell Green, Marcus Barr (Ind), Kieran Canham (Labour), Janet Reed (Conservative) and Nicholas Smith (Ind) will be fighting for two seats. Wellington South East has two nominations for one vacancy – Kevin Wendt (Conservative) and Chris Booth (LibDem).

The political mix of the council will be different after the election – although the council does not generally run on political lines – and will have no party in overall control. The Conservatives will have at most six councillors but are still likely to be the largest group, while the LibDems have only put forward four candidates with the rest Labour and Independents. Currently, the Conservatives hold ten out of the 15 seats.

Cllr Thorne, commenting on the shortage of candidates, said: “The town council is becoming more dynamic and trying to do more, so councillors have more responsibility and have to be more involved than previously, which could be putting people off.

“There’s also an element of people being fed up with politics with everything that has been going on over Brexit. I feel a lot of people are switching off from politics because of that and don’t necessarily understand local politics isn’t the same.

“At town council level I cannot recall any issue in the last four years which has been decided on party lines. Councillors may happen to be a member of a party but they are representing Wellington and use their judgement to try to do their best for the people they represent.”

Cllr Thorne said the number of Conservative candidates had suffered with illness among the families of prospective candidates, work commitments and the recent death of Cllr Bob Bowrah.

If councillors go down the co-option route after the election they may invite individuals to apply or choose who they would like on the council before inviting them for interview. Alternatively, elections could be held to fill the vacant seats but they could cost up to £5,000 for each election depending on factors like the number of polling stations and staffing required.

Former Mayor of Wellington Dave Mitton will be returned unopposed at West Buckland.

Voters will also be electing councillors for the new Somerset West and Taunton Council on the same day as the town elections.