Following the sad death of Liberal Democrat Councillor Roy Davies a by-election to Luton Borough Council for the Wigmore ward is to be held on Wednesday 10 April 2013.

Note that polling day is a Wednesday — not the usual Thursday.

There are six candidates — all men — for the vacant place in this three member ward. The other two councillors for Wigmore are both Liberal Democrats.

The Liberal Democrat candidate will be former councillor Alan Skepelhorn. The Conservatives are putting forward John Young — a regular candidate for them in local elections in Luton. The Labour candidate is James Taylor — who I’ve not come across before.

The candidate for the Green Party will be long standing Green activist Marc Scheimann. Lance Richardson will be the candidate for UK Independence Party — he was the candidate for UKIP in this ward at the last local elections in 2011.

More details about the candidates and the by-election can be found on the Luton Borough Council website.

Going by the result in this ward from the last locals it could be one of those rare things — a genuine three party contest. While I of course hope that Alan can retain the seat for the Liberal Democrats, it will be interesting to see which party emerges as the main challenger.

Wigmore election result – 5 May 2011

Liberal Democrat	1403
Liberal Democrat	1239
Liberal Democrat	1113
Conservative	807
Conservative	787
Labour	786
Labour	781
Labour	734
Conservative	559
UKIP	324