THE by-election to fill the vacant seat on Horwich Town Council will take place this Thursday.

Five candidates will by vying for the Lever Park Ward seat that was left vacant when Labour member Kath Schofield resigned from her position last year due to ill health.

The hopefuls are Labour’s Ian Carruthers, Conservative Mike Drinkwater, Independent Peter Ravald, Lib Dem Caroline Turner-Preece, and Rod Riesco from the Green Party.

The other two seats in the ward are currently held by two Independent members — Cllr Ken Denton, who left the Labour party last year, and Cllr Steven Chadwick.

Mrs Schofield represented Lever Park Ward for more than two years after she was elected in May 2015.

Announcing her retirement, the 71-year-old said: “I have not been well for the last few months and I have had to step back from a lot of things.

“I enjoyed my time there and I would like to think that I added something to the outcome of some of the decisions that were made.”

The last by-election for Horwich Town Council took place in May last year after Liberal Democrat Glen Atkinson stepped down from his Church Ward seat.

His fellow party member Cllr Gordon Stone was elected after a tie forced the drawing of cards.