VOTERS across the former Taunton Deane and West Somerset areas will go to the polls on May 2 to decide who will represent them on the new Somerset West and Taunton Council for the next four years.

In the vast majority of the 35 wards, voters will have a number of different candidates to choose from, representing most of the major political parties as well as a smattering of independents.

But for those living in Quantock Vale, the election is a far more straightforward affair – because only one candidate has stood.

Chris Morgan – the current councillor for the area – was the only person to put his name forward to represent its 2,000-odd residents before the full list of nominees were published on Thursday (April 4).

This means that he has been elected unopposed – and that those residents have no reason to the polls at all on election day, save to spoil their ballot papers.

Mr Morgan was first elected to the corresponding ward for West Somerset Council in 2007; he was one of two independent candidates who took the seat from the Conservatives.

He was re-elected as a Conservative in 2011 and again in 2015, winning the largest number of votes on all three occasions.

Under the redrawn ward boundaries for the new council, Mr Morgan will represent an estimated 2,077 people.

This will rise to 2,220 by the next elections in May 2023, according to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, which has drawn the boundaries for the new council.

Mr Morgan will formally take up his position on the new council at the first full council meeting after the election, which will be held in Taunton on May 22.