West Berkshire is preparing to go to the polls as the local elections are held for West Berkshire Council, as well as Newbury Town Council and Thatcham Town Council

Voters go to the polls in West Berkshire tomorrow (Thursday).

They will be electing a new district council, as well as Newbury and Thatcham town councils. Two parish councils, East Ilsely and Stanford Dingley, are also holding elections.

This is the first year people will need to show a form of ID at the polling stations.

Last week West Berkshire Council confirmed that around 200 people have applied for the voter authentication certificate, which they can use to vote.

Polling stations across the district will be open from 7am until 10pm.

The returning officer in charge of the count and announcing the result after the election is West Berkshire Council chief executive Nigel Lynn.

He will be mastering the count from Newbury Racecourse on Friday, although the count room is not open to the public.

The count is expected to take place from Friday morning, with results not due until early evening.

In the district council elections there are 43 seats up for grabs. The district is made up of 24 wards, each having one, two or three members.

There are four parishes or parish wards where no nominations were received. This means there are no candidates for that election.

Those parishes are Cold Ash Florence Gardens, Cold Ash Manor Park May, Lambourn Eastbury and Wokefield.

An uncontested election happens when there were fewer candidates nominated than there are seats for that parish.

There were 61 parishes uncontested, and this means that the candidates who were nominated are elected to a seat on the parish council without a public vote.