The candidates for three Powys Council by-elections set to take place next month have been announced.

Wannabe councillors had until 4pm last Friday, June 5, to get their nomination papers into the council for the by-elections, which are for the wards of Glantwymyn near Machynlleth, Llanyre and Nantmel near Llandrindod Wells, and Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew near Brecon.

Powys Council has now published its statement of nominated persons and confirmed that voters in the three wards will go to the polls on Thursday, July 2.

The elections are taking place due to the successful election of former councillors Elwyn Vaughan (Plaid Cymru), Claire Johnson-Wood and Iain McIntosh (both Reform UK) to the Senedd last month.

Mr Vaughan and Mrs Johnson-Wood were both elected for the Gwynedd Maldwyn constituency, while Mr McIntosh was successful in the Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd constituency.

The candidates for the Glantwymyn ward are: Rwth Hughes – Plaid Cymru, Heidi Rhiann – Welsh Conservative, Peter Phillip Robinson – Reform UK, Angela Standrin – Welsh Liberal Democrats.

The candidates for the Llanyre with Nantmel ward are: Tyler John Chambers – Welsh Conservative, Steve Court – Wales Green Party, Dewi Owen Evans – Independent, Gareth Hughes – Reform UK, Tim Wilson – Welsh Liberal Democrats.

The candidates for the Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew ward are: Mark Burton – Welsh Conservative, Alan Cooper – Welsh Labour, Kate Heneghan – Plaid Cymru, Dawn Louise McIntosh – Reform UK, Colin Millichap – Welsh Liberal Democrats, Eric Rosoman-Mathews – Wales Green Party.

Applications to register to vote must reach the Electoral Registration Officer by midnight on Tuesday, June 16, and can be made online at: www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Applications to vote by post, or requests to change or cancel an existing application, must reach the Electoral Registration Officer by 5pm on Wednesday, June 17. Applications to vote by post can be made online.

Last month, the Liberal Democrats successfully defended the vacancy in the Llandrindod South ward, which saw Lauren D’Silva elected to the council.

This by-election was held following the resignation of Jose Ewing in March.

In other moves within the council since the Senedd elections, Cllr Gary Mitchell (Llanbrynmair) has taken over the leadership of the Plaid Cymru group at Powys Council.

Also, after returning to the Liberal Democrat group in February, Cllr Tom Colbert has once again left them to plough his own furrow as a non-aligned councillor.

A Powys Council spokeswoman confirmed that Cllr Colbert had left the Lib Dem group on May 13, the day before the council’s annual meeting on May 14.

Cllr Colbert has been asked to comment.

The current make-up of Powys Council is a minority administration of 31 councillors, made up of 22 Liberal Democrats and nine Labour members. The Powys Independents and the Conservatives each have 13 councillors, while Plaid Cymru has three and Reform UK has two. The Green Party has one councillor, who is officially classed as non-aligned, along with two other non-aligned councillors. There are also three vacant wards.