Residents and businesses in one part of the city will get chance to hear from all their ward’s local election candidates so they can decide who’ll get their vote on May 7
Albany Road, Earlsdon, where the methodist church will be the venue for an Earlsdon Community Hustings event(Image: Google Streetview)
People living in one part of Coventry are being invited to attend a community meeting where they can hear from their ward’s election contenders and decide who’ll get their vote on May 7.
Earlsdon currently has three Labour councillors but faces a political shake-up at the ballot box with two seats predicted to go to the Green Party and the other to Reform UK. The Greens will have doubled their seats on the council to a new total of four, according to forecasts, while Reform UK is set to end up with 24, making them the new majority party on Coventry City Council but not in overall control.
Nineteen people are standing as election candidates in Earlsdon, including all three sitting Labour councillors, plus three from Reform UK, three Conservatives, three Greens, three Liberal Democrats, three from the Social Democratic Party and one representing the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition.
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Three people will be elected for each of the city’s 18 wards, with the person getting the most votes for their area holding the seat for four years. The candidate with the second-biggest vote stays a councillor for two years and the individual coming third will be in place for one year until the normal elections cycle resumes in 2027.
With 19 people to choose from in Earlsdon, a grassroots campaign group hopes to gather them all together for what it believes will be the only community hustings in the city.
It is inviting residents, local businesses, community stakeholders, and members of the wider public with an interest in the election to attend the event.
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The hustings is being organised by Earlsdon 2.0, a local community initiative aiming to improve this part of the city.
A spokesperson for the volunteer-led organisation said: “The purpose of the Earlsdon Community Hustings is to provide a fair, neutral, and community focused forum in which local residents can hear directly from candidates, compare priorities, and better understand how each candidate would represent Earlsdon.”
Candidates will each read an opening statement and answer a series of set questions gathered in advance from the public. There will be no live questions from the audience.
Earlsdon 2.0 is inviting people to submit questions and says these should focus on local issues that fall within the role of a councillor, such as traffic, parking, the vitality of the high street, community safety, and facilities for families, young people and older residents.
Earlsdon Community Hustings is being held at Earlsdon Methodist Church, Albany Road, on Thursday, April 30, from 6.30pm.
The Electoral Commission explained: “A hustings is a meeting where election candidates or parties debate policies and answer questions from the audience. Hustings provide voters with an opportunity to hear the views of candidates or parties.
“When all candidates or parties standing are invited, a hustings does not promote any particular candidate or party because they all have the opportunity to speak and be questioned.”
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