Elections to fill the vacancies left on Falmouth Town Council and Cornwall Council following the sudden death of Candy Atherton last year, will be held on Thursday, February 1.

There are four candidates standing for the Smithick division of Cornwall Council and also four for the seat on the town council.

Those contesting the county seat are: Richard David Cunningham, Conservative, of West Street in Penryn; Jayne Susannah Kirkham, Labour, of Bay View Crescent, Falmouth; Tom Scott, Green Party, of Florence Place, Falmouth, and John Martin Spargo, Liberal Democrat, of Kimberley Park Road, Falmouth.

Hoping to win the by-election for the town council are: Louise Diane Coley, Labour, of Silverdale Road, Falmouth; Jeffrey Malcolm Muir, Liberal Democrat, of Belmont Road, Falmouth, and Mr Cunningham and Mr Scott.

Polling stations at the Athenaeum Club in Kimberley Place, the Church Hall in New Street and the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Western Terrace, will be open between 7am and 10pm for people to cast their votes.

Candy died on October 30 at the age of 62 after suffering a massive stroke while in Milton Keynes. She and husband, and fellow town councillor Brod Ross, had accompanied town clerk Mark Williams to the NALC (National Association of Local Councils) conference where he was named Clerk of the Year.

Her death came as a shock to all her family, friends, council colleagues and also many at Westminster, including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who she had known since her days as the MP for Falmouth and Camborne from 1997 to 2005.