Candidates have been announced for a by-election which will be held next month following the death of the chair of North Yorkshire County Council.
The by-election for the Masham and Fountains division will take place on Thursday, 9 February, and is being held following the death of long-serving Conservative councillor Margaret Atkinson.
Felicity Cunliffe-Lister will stand for the Liberal Democrats, and Brooke Victoria Hull for the Conservative Party.
Cllr Margaret Atkinson was appointed to the role in May last year to serve as the last ever chair of the county council before it is replaced by a new unitary authority on April 1.
However, it was confirmed on 14 November that Cllr Atkinson, who had served on the county council for nine years, had died suddenly.
Cllr David Ireton, who was appointed in May as the deputy chair of the county council, has assumed the responsibilities of the authority’s chair.
Cllr Ireton was due to take on the chairmanship of the new North Yorkshire Council, which will be formed when the county council and the seven district and borough authorities merge from 1 April this year.
