Preston City Council elections 2022: All you need to know about when and how you can vote - and a full list of candidates in each ward

There are contests in all of the city council’s 16 wards, with the authority electing a third of its total number of councillors as part of an electoral cycle in which it stages polls in three out of every four years.

A single councillor will be selected in each of the three-member wards, with the exception of Brookfield, where two winners will be crowned - one of whom will replace veteran councillor John Browne, who died in March after serving almost 39 years at the town hall.

>» Preston local elections 2022: The big election debate - the city's top politicians try to persuade you to back their party at the polls this week .

There are a total of 52 candidates standing in Preston, almost all of whom are involved in three-way battles between the trio of parties currently represented on the authority - the ruling Labour group, the Conservative opposition and the Liberal Democrats.

The Green Party make it a four-headed contest in the Sharoe Green ward. There are no independent candidates on the ballot paper in the city this time round.

Lancashire County Council elected its membership for the next four years back in 2021, so there will be no fresh vote for countyrepresentatives until 2025.

HOW AND WHERE DO I VOTE?

Eligible and registered voters can cast their vote in person at their assigned polling station anytime between 7am and 10pm today.

You do not need to take your polling card with you to vote - and can instead just give in your name and address.

You can find your polling station details on your polling card or by entering your postcode at the website, wheredoivote.co.uk?

Anybody with a postal vote who has not yet sent it back can nevertheless hand it in at their nominated polling station up until 10pm.

You can apply for an emergency proxy vote - which allows someone else to vote on your behalf - up until 5pm today. However, you will be eligible for one only if you cannot vote in person, for reasons of employment or disability - and only if you have become aware of the fact that you will be unable to attend a polling station since 26th April, which was when the deadline for ordinary proxy applications passed.

Under those circumstances, you can apply for an emergency proxy by filling in the relevant paper form, which must be signed by an appropriate person, such as your employer or a doctor. It must be obtained from and returned to your local electoral registration office by 5pm.

POLLING STATIONS ON THE MOVE IN PRESTON

In Preston, three polling station locations have changed this year:

***The polling station at Fulwood United Reformed Church on Symonds Road, has moved to Galloway Hall, 13, Brackenbury Road, Fulwood, PR2 3BS.

***The polling station at the Harris Library in the city centre has moved to Preston Minster, Church Street, Preston, PR1 3BT.

***The polling station at St. Bernard's Catholic Club on Elswick Road in Ashton has moved to Oaktree Court, Preesall Road, Ashton, Preston, PR2 1PQ.

WHEN DO THE RESULTS COME IN?

Preston City Council has returned to traditional overnight counting of the votes this year, having totted up the totals during daylight hours in 2021 due to the additional complications caused by the Covid restrictions in place at the time.

The results are expected to be declared during the early hours of Friday morning. The Post will have a reporter at the count and will bring you the declarations from individual wards - and the overall result for the authority as a whole - live here on our website.

Ashton

Robert Boswell (LAB)

Jeremy Dable (LIB DEM)

Tracy Slater (CON)

Brookfield

Mel Close (LAB)

Naoimh McMahon (LAB)

Sandra Finch (LIB DEM)

Cristina Mylroie (LIB DEM)

Mary Kudi (CON)

Bowen Perryman (CON)

Cadley

Phoenix Adair (LIB DEM)

Takhsin Akhtar (LAB)

Paul Balshaw (CON)

City Centre

Lynne Brooks (LAB)

Christopher Finch (LIB DEM)

Andy Pratt (CON)

Deepdale

Zafar Coupland (LAB)

Jurgen Voges (LIB DEM)

Nilli Williamson (CON)

Fishwick & Frenchwood

John Rutter (LIB DEM)

Ishaq Vaez (CON)

Valerie Wise (LAB)

Garrison

Amber Afzal (LAB)

Lakwinder Singh (CON)

Mike Turner (LIB DEM)

Greyfriars

Sean Aldridge (CON)

Fiona Duke (LIB DEM)

Mark Routledge (LAB)

Ingol & Cottam

Neil Darby (LIB DEM)

Connor Dwyer (LAB)

Carolyn Gibson (CON)

Lea & Larches

David Borrow (LAB & CO-OP)

Edward Craven (LIB DEM)

Scott Rainford (CON)

Plungington

Pav Akhtar (LAB)

Pamela Homer (CON)

Rebecca Potter (LIB DEM)

Preston Rural East

Ahmed James (LAB)

Peter Lawrence (LIB DEM)

Stephen Whittam (CON)

Preston Rural North

Daniel Guise (LIB DEM)

Adam Sarwar (LAB)

Stephen Thompson (CON)

Ribbleton

Luke Bosman (LIB DEM)

Jonty Campbell (CON)

Jonathan Saksena (LAB)

Sharoe Green

Helen Disley (GREEN)

Maxwell Green (CON)

George Kulbacki (LIB DEM)

Samir Vohra (LAB)

St Matthews

Colin Homer (CON)

Joanne Joyner (LIB DEM)

Jade Morgan (LAB)