THERE will be a minimum of four new faces on Wellington Town Council after next month’s local elections, while at least two sitting councillors will lose their places.

A total of 23 candidates were nominated across five town wards for the 15 places on the council, belying the trend for the 2022 elections across the rest of Taunton Deane.

Of the 43 parish councils in the Deane, Wellington is one of only two where an election will actually take place, the other being one of the wards in Cheddon Fitzpaine where two people are competing for one seat.

Every other parish has either seen the same number of candidates as there are vacancies or have experienced fewer names being put forward than there are places to fill, meaning they have all been elected unopposed.

In several parishes there were no nominations for some wards.

Of the parishes local to the Wellington area, Milverton suffered the largest shortage of candidates with only five names put forward for 12 seats and only one of those five being new.

Similarly, Wiveliscombe will have seven vacancies after the elections because only 10 people stepped forward, nine of whom were existing councillors.

Wellington town and county Cllr John Thorne, who has been co-ordinating the local Conservative campaign, said the lack of people willing to serve as parish councillors across the Deane was ‘hugely disappointing’.

He believed there were several reasons why people were not prepared to stand and why so many existing councillors were not seeking re-election.

Cllr Thorne said: “One of the biggest factors seems to be that people see how politicians like Boris Johnson get absolutely slaughtered by the BBC and other media who constantly criticise and pick apart anything he proposes.

“Then, they see the dreadful and disgusting comments made by so many anonymous social media users about not just national politicians but our local councillors as well.

“No wonder so many people do not want to put their heads above the parapet.

“Another factor is that with the new unitary council for Somerset being formed next year many parish councillors mistakenly believe they are going to have to work a great deal harder to keep local services going, so they have decided to step down now.

“They have not properly understood that the unitary council means they will certainly have the opportunity to take on a lot more responsibility, but only if they want to do so.

“Most parish councillors are not paid for the work they do for the communities they represent, or, as in the case of Wellington, they might receive an allowance which equates to £5.38 a week before tax. They certainly do not do it for the money.

“The net result is a democratic vacuum with residents not given an opportunity to go to the polls and choose who they want to represent them.

“Even in Wellington, a town of 15,000 residents, where I have been organising for the Conservatives, it has been a really hard slog to put together a strong team of candidates.

“Conservatives have the largest team but there are still only nine of us campaigning for the 15 seats while the other parties have not even been able to get that many.”

Labour’s Sam Booker and Kieran Canham will be two of the new Wellington councillors after they were returned unopposed in the town’s north ward, where five candidates were put forward for five vacancies.

In Wellington South East, which has one vacancy, there are three candidates each of whom is new – although Labour’s Dave Mitton has previously served on the council. The other two are Paul Sayer for the Conservatives and the Lib Dem’s Keith Wheatley.

Rockwell Green will see at least one new councillor and possibly two, as Conservatives Zoe Barr and Aimee Cheshire are up against sitting councillor Andrew Govier for Labour in the two-seat ward.

Wellington East and Wellington South are the most keenly contested wards and each will see at least one councillor lose their seat.

Serving councillors Wayne Battishill and James Hunt are contesting the four-seat East ward for the Conservatives, while Lib Dem councillors Nancy Powell-Brace and Ross Henley are also standing, as is past-Mayor Janet Lloyd on an Independent ticket.

Two other candidates are also in the race, Ross Leach for Labour and Michael Potter for the Conservatives.

In Wellington South, which has three vacancies, current deputy Mayor Vivienne Stock-Williams is standing with Cllr Marcus Barr for the Conservatives, and two other sitting councillors are seeking re-election, Sean Pringle-Kosikowsky (Ind) and Chris Booth (LD). Labour’s Catherine Govier is the fifth candidate for the ward.

In other parishes around Wellington, West Buckland has four nominations for six seats, Bradford on Tone four for seven, Langford Budville four for five, Bathealton three for five, Oake four for seven, Churchstanton six for seven, Cotford St Luke five for six, Halse three for five, Sampford Arundel six for seven, and Ashbrittle just one nomination out of five vacancies.

Chistable, Fitzhead, Nynehead, Otterford, and Stawley all have exactly five nominations for five places, while Wellington Without has six for its six seats.