THE Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party as well as three independents are all trying to win the one vacant Powys council seat.

Residents in the Yscir ward, to the north west of Brecon, were denied the chance to go to the polls in the local council elections, held across Wales in May, as no candidates had come forward.

A by-election is being held on Thursday, June 22 to fill the vacancy which will mean all 73 seats on Powys County Council are filled.

If Plaid Cymru win the seat candidate Kate Heneghan will become the party’s first councillor elected in either Brecon or Radnorshire.

Mrs Heneghan, of Aberyscir, stood in last week’s general election for the party in the Brecon and Radnorshire constituency and won 1,299 votes.

Two Plaid councillors, from Montgomeryshire, became the party’s first to be elected to Powys council at last month’s elections.

The two existing Plaid members sit in a group with the council’s only Green councillor, Emily Durrant, who represents Llangors.

But Bethan Irwin, of Pentrefelin, is hoping to become only the council’s second ever Green member.

Ian McIntosh, of Brecon, is the Conservative candidate. He stood for the party in Brecon St John ward in last month’s council elections but failed to take the seat from Labour.

Former Bronllys councillor Steve Davies, who lost his seat standing as a Conservative at last month’s elections is also standing. The former councillor, from Erwood, who missed out is standing as an independent.

The two other independent candidates are Chris Davies, of Lower Chapel, and Daniel Evans, also of Lower Chapel.

All candidates have been invited to a hustings at Upper Chapel Community Hall on Tuesday, June 20 starting at 7.30pm.

The event, which is open to all, has been been organised by Pontfaen Young Farmers Club.

Member Raiff Devlin, who will chair the hustings, said: “The hustings is for the entire community to attend and we will be discussing a range of matters from public transport to the impact on our community post Brexit.”

Yscir was left without a representative after no-one put their name forward for nomination at the May elections.

Gill Thomas, who had represented the area for 27 years, stood down at the elections having been first elected at a by-election in 1990.

In 16 other wards councillors were elected unopposed, as there was only one candidate, but the Yscir ward hadn’t managed to attract even one nomination. The unusual situation of an area being left without a councillor was featured on the radio and television news during coverage of the local elections.

Cllr Thomas was first elected, following the death of the area’s former councillor Colonel Stevenson, onto the former Powys County Council which was disbanded in the 1996 local government reorganisation when the new Powys County Council was formed as a unitary authority, replacing the former county and borough councils.

Polls will be open from 7am to 10pm on polling day.