n LOCAL ELECTIONS Ward profile: Winterbourne

WINTERBOURNE ward is smaller in size and population than neighbouring Frampton Cotterrell.

Covering Winterbourne, Winterbourne Down, Watley's End, Moorend, Whiteshill and Hambrook, its boundaries include the Avon Ring Road in the south, River Frome in the east and M4 in the north west.

The ward contains most of Winterbourne parish but not the Frenchay area south of the A4174.

At the last local elections its electorate was just over half the size of Frampton Cotterell's, with 5,758 voters on the register.

Its two councillors to Frampton's three mean it has fewer voters per council seat than Frampton.

In 2019 the Conservatives won both seats, with the party's secondplaced candidate 406 votes ahead of the leading Liberal Democrat in third. Labour's leading candidate was fifth, 162 votes behind the fourth-placed Lib Dem.

This time there are eight candidates - two each from the Tories, Lib Dems, Labour and the Green Party.

The Voice invited all of the candidates, via their parties, to submit a short statement and picture, to introduce themselves to voters.

They appear here in the order they will be listed on ballot papers.

Peter Bruce (LD)

A Parish Councillor in Frampton Cotterell, chair of the Climate & Nature Committee and vice chair of the Youth Committee. He works in South Glos and has a daughter that attends a local school. David guides Visually Impaired runners and attends martial arts classes. He is also decarbonising his house.

Trevor Jones (Con) parks and green spaces. Vice-chair of Green Community Travel, he has vowed to fight cuts to bus services.

Alan Lankester (Grn) bar steward for Winterbourne Utd Football Club, so I am fully aware of the needs and aspirations of Winterbourne residents."

Beth McKinlay (Lab)

The Labour Party has not submitted a statement or picture for this candidate.

David Vernon (Grn)

"I manage national IT developments for stem cell transplantation and have lived in South Gloucestershire with my family since 2022. A committee member and volunteer for Frampton Cotterell Nature, I joined the Greens because larger parties weren’t willing to commit to following the science on environment, biodiversity, or climate issues."

John Lloyd (Lab)

I have lived in Bradley Stoke and then Winterbourne for three years. I love to cycle and walk around the area, including the Frome Valley walkway, and to look after my plot in the Glebe allotments. I believe in a just transition and equity of opportunity.

Key to parties, as described on nomination statements:

Trevor has been a South Gloucestershire councillor for 16 years and has sat on Winterbourne Parish Council since 2019. His background is in clinical science, having worked for the NHS Blood and Transplant service. He has two daughters, has been a school governor for 35 years and championed school investment.

Nic Labuschagne (Con)

30 years in Winterbourne and the Aerospace industry, diverse local jobs and volunteering.

Peter’s focus is on community and encouraging co-operation between business, public sector, charities and academia, delivering partnerships with unlikely organisations and people. He has a passion for local food, buildings, the environment and creating opportunity.

Nic has lived in Winterbourne for over 20 years and been a parish and district councillor for the last six. A proud father-of-four, he loves spending time with his grandchildren in Winterbourne’s

"I was raised in nearby Frampton Cotterell and have lived in the Parish of Winterbourne for over 40 years. For more than 30 years I have been secretary/groundsman/

Con: Conservative Party Candidate

Grn: Green Party

Lab: Labour Party

LD: Liberal Democrats

WHILE candidates in South Gloucestershire Council's elections prepare for polling day, most of the area's town and parish council elections are already over.

No parish elections will take place in 69 wards across the district - in some cases covering entire parishes - because not enough candidates came forward to make a vote necessary.

In the Frome Valley area they include the whole of Frampton Cotterell Parish Council, where one of the 15 seats remains unfilled, the whole of Westerleigh & Coalpit Heath Parish Council and the East Ward of Iron Acton Parish Council.

And no candidates have been nominated at all for the seven seats available on Tytherington and Itchington parish council.

Elections will only take place in 22 parish or town council wardsbut the one with the biggest battle shaping up is in Winterbourne.

While the parish council's Frenchay ward saw four Frenchay Preservation Society councillors elected unopposed, the Winterbourne ward has 19 candidates vying for one of 12 places.

The Conservatives are standing 12 candidates: Jon Amos, Carla Attwood, Venish Bansal, Nicole Beebee, Mike Goodman, South Gloucestershire councillors Trevor Jones and Nic Labuschagne, Diane Marriott, Mary Newport, David Roughley, Theresa van der Merwe and Lawrence Ward.

Six candidates are running under the banner 'Winterbourne Independent Voices - Working For You'.

They are: Fergus Arkley, Peter Bruce, David Eldridge, Laura FoggRogers, Sharon Hancock and Penny Sykes.

Both Peter Bruce and David