A BY-ELECTON to fill a council vacancy in a ward split between two villages will be a three-way fight between the main political parties.
Next month's ballot will be the first staged in the previously uncontested Edmondsley and Waldridge ward of Chester-le-Street District Council.
The by-election follows the retirement of the sitting Labour councillor, John Adey, due to work commitments.
It will be an all-postal vote, with ballot forms to be delivered to homes across the ward over the weekend of September 4 and 5.
The deadline for the return of completed forms is 6pm on Thursday, September 16.
Nominations have closed and the candidates contesting the by-election will be Russell Amor Haswell, for the Liberal Democrats, David Michael Holding, Labour and Mark Proud, Conservative.
The outcome will have little bearing on political control in the Chester-le-Street district, because Labour holds 28 of the remaining 33 seats.
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