ELECTIONS for Cornwall Council, Devon County Council, and some parish councils in Cornwall, take place on May 4.

There are 122 divisions in Cornwall Council, with one multi-member division — Bude, which is represented by two councillors.

This is the third set of elections for the unitary council, the first were held on June 6 2009.

Although there is no overall political majority, Cornwall Council is currently run as a Liberal Democrat and Independent coalition.

There are 196 parish and town councils in Cornwall and 17 parish meetings, with 309 separate electoral areas. Launceston, Bude-Stratton and Camelford town councils are uncontested, as are a large number of parish councils.

Elections will be taking place, however, for the parish councils of Egloskerry, Jacobstow, Lewannick, North Petherwin, North Tamerton and St Teath.

The polling stations for the parish councils will be the same as those for the Cornwall Council elections and they will use the same ballot boxes (there will be different coloured ballot papers for the two elections).

Nearly 600,000 Devon residents aged 18 and over will get the chance to go to the polls to determine who will lead Devon County Council and be responsible for key local services for the next four years.

County council elections in England take place once every four years, and this year 60 seats are up for grabs.

Due to Boundary Commission changes, this is a reduction of two seats from the last whole council elections in 2013 where 62 seats were contested.

There will now be 56 ‘single-member’ electoral divisions and two ‘two-member’ divisions.

The last Devon County Council elections took place on May 2 2013.

The Conservatives retained control of Devon County Council winning 38 out of the 62 seats — a reduction of three from the 41 seats they won in the 2009 elections when they took overall control from the Liberal Democrats for the first time since 1989.

From 2001 to 2005 no party achieved a majority and the council agreed a power sharing arrangement with the first ever all-party administration in the county council’s 120-year history.

The deadline to register to vote in the May 4 elections in England is today, April 13. For more information, visit www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

l ARE you standing in the elections? Candidates for the county council elections are welcome to send up to 150 words ‘potted biography’ and a head and shoulders photo, for inclusion in the paper, to [email protected], by the end of today, Thursday, April 13.

Party and personal policies from county and parish council candidates can be included in a paid for election address — for further information call 01566 772424.