THE candidates hoping to represent Malvern Hills on the county council have been announced.

Worcestershire County Council elections take place on Thursday, May 1 with counts taking place the following day.

There are a total of 57 seats up for grabs across the county in 53 divisions.

The Malvern Hills district is split into eight divisions, each electing one county councillor.

Following boundary changes, Malvern itself is split across four divisions - Malvern Link, Malvern Trinity, Malvern Chase and Malvern Langland.

There are also four divisions that cover large parts of the district - Tenbury, Hallow, Powick & Longdon, and Croome.

Powick & Longdon, for example, borders Worcester city in the north and stretches to the Gloucestershire border in the south of the county.

Beverley Nielsen, who caused controversy last August by joining the Labour Party, is standing for re-election in Malvern Langland.

She was originally elected as an independent in 2021 and is still sitting as an independent on Malvern Hills District Council.

In the upcoming election, she faces competition district councillor Paul Bennett for the Lib Dems, Malvern Town councillor Julie Maclusky for the Conservatives, Green Party candidate Simon Johnson and Jeanette Sheen for Reform UK.

READ MORE: Deadline to register to vote in Worcestershire local elections

READ MORE: Malvern Hills District Council leader Tom Wells steps down

Daniel Walton, another independent district councillor, is standing in the Hallow division for Labour.

Mel Fordington is standing for the Conservatives, Clifford Hobbs for the Lib Dems, Richard Kimberlee for the Greens and Sebastian Spiers for Reform UK.

Green Party stalwart Martin Allen is hoping for re-election in the Croome division, John Drage is the Lib Dem candidate, Juma Begum is standing for Labour, Sarah McDermot for the Tories and Russ Varley for Reform UK.

Malcolm Victory is another seeking re-election for the Greens. In the Malvern Chase division he will be standing against Sebastian Barbour for the Conservatives, Angel Chawner for Reform UK, Anna Cummins for Labour and Emma Trueman for the Lib Dems.

Karen Hanks will be looking to defend her Malvern Link seat for the Conservatives. District councillor Fran Victory is the Green candidate.

Christopher Burrows is standing for Labour, Chris McSweeney for the Lib Dems and Andy Peplow for Reform UK.

Former district council deputy leader Natalie McVey is defending her seat for the Greens in Malvern Trinity.

Town councillor David Watkins is standing for the Conservatives, Brian Burdon for Labour, Jamie Cramp for the Lib Dems, Michael Savage for Reform UK and Graeme Stubbs as an independent.

Tom Wells, who stood down as leader of the district council in November, is looking for re-election as an independent county councillor in the newly-named Powick and Longdon division.

Paul Boatright-Greene is the Lib Dem candidate, Glen Promnitz is standing for the Conservatives, Christopher Taylor for Labour and Max Windsor-Peplow for Reform UK.

Tory David Chambers isn’t standing for re-election in Tenbury so there’ll be a new councillor.

Carl Fordington is the Conservative candidate. Justin Bowen is standing for Labour, Jed Marson for the Lib Dems, Peter Jones for the Greens and Worcester city councillor Adam Scott for Labour.