A LOCAL by-election is being held locally in October for a prospective councillor to join Ross-on-Wye Town Council.

The vacancy has arisen due to the resignation of Saskia Harrison, who originally won the seat in the Ross West ward by-election a year ago.

And following nominations from at least 10 people, who live in the ward, gave the Returning Officer an expression of interest that a by-election should be held in due course.

Ms Harrison had been an independent member on the town council but resigned from her position citing that it had been an incredibly difficult environment to work in as a volunteer.

Herefordshire Council’s Retuning Officer said that the by-election in Ross West would be held on Thursday, October 1.

And following the issues over the lack of polling cards for the August 2025 by-election Ross Town Council have confirmed it will be issuing polling cards to the electorate of the Ross West ward.

Cllr Ed O’Driscoll told a recent meeting of the town council: “We’ve agreed that in future we would issue polling cards to avoid any confusion.”

The Town Council’s clerk told members that the cost of holding two by-elections last year amounted to an expense of £11,613 without producing polling cards.

And in a rough calculation of holding a by-election in just one ward would be approximately £5,600 and the cost of printing polling cards would amount to an expenditure of additional £5,185, making an estimated cost by-election expenditure of £10,785.

Cllr Julian Utting pointed out that the winning recipient would only be in office for around nine months before the whole council is up for re-election.

The next scheduled elections for Herefordshire Council and the town and parish councils in the county will be held on May 6, 2027.