Huntingdon Town Council elections 2026

Of the nineteen Huntingdon Town councillors, five are retiring – Steve McAdam, Audrey McAdam, Padrica Kennington, Ann Blackwell, and Mike Baker. Brian Luckham was coöpted to South Ward during this term and is standing for Stukeley Meadows ward in these elections. Everyone else who is restanding is doing so in the ward they currently represent. Juliet Cole and Sarah Gifford stood down during this last year, so at least seven of the nineteen will be newly elected (though some candidates have previously been on the town council). At least a third of the council changing feels significant to me.

Forty candidates are contesting the elections and there are no uncontested seats. Given how many towns and parishes don’t have contested elections, that’s a good thing. In 2022, there weren’t contested elections in Central, Hinchingbrooke Park, South West, South, or West, and there were coöptions at the start of the term.

WardSeatsGreLabLibConRefInd
Central2221
E4341
HP111
NE4442
SW11111
S111
SM524
W1111
Σ19111314110

E – East; HP – Hinchingbrooke Park; NE – North East; SW – South West; S – South; SM – Stukeley Meadows; W – West. Ind includes candidates with no ballot description.

Central (2)

  • Damilola ADEMINIYI – Labour Party
  • Muhhamad Shahzad AMIR – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Aparna VINODKUMAR PANAMPILLY – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Fardous SIDDIQUE – Labour Party
  • Karl Brian WEBB – Independent

East (4)

  • Aiwan ANTONY – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Kiran BALA – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Mark Neil FEARON
  • Tomin GEO – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Jo HARVEY – Liberal Democrats
  • Nathan HUNT – Liberal Democrats
  • Lavanya KRISHNAN – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Amanda NORTON – Liberal Democrats

Hinchingbrooke Park (1)

  • Karl Gordon BROCKETT – Independent
  • Rodel Carag DAQUIOAG – Conservative Party Candidate

North East (4)

  • David Landon COLE – Labour Party
  • Zara Louise Bobby DOLAN-ANSARY – Labour Party
  • Leedo GEORGE – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Hari Krishna GOPALA KRISHNAN – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Marion KADEWERE – Labour Party
  • Patrick KADEWERE – Labour Party
  • Alan NICOL – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Sreelakshmi PRADEEP – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Lianne SIMPSON – Independent
  • Jenny TAYLOR

South West (1)

  • Julie BROCKETT
  • Georgie HUNT – The Green Party Candidate
  • Alan POLY – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Sam WAKEFORD – Labour Party

South (1)

  • Ambrose NTUK – Labour Party
  • Mithun THOMAS – Conservative Party Candidate

Stukeley Meadows (5)

  • Alan John BRUGNOLI
  • Freya CUSHMAN – Labour Party
  • Leila Sophie EMPSON – Labour Party
  • Brian John LUCKHAM – Independent
  • Phil PEARCE
  • Tom SANDERSON

West (1)

  • Yavin Michael OWENS – Labour Party
  • Renjith REMESH – Conservative Party Candidate
  • Mike SIMPSON – Reform UK

Data from Huntingdonshire District Council. (2026). Statement of Persons Nominated. [Online]. Elections. Last Updated: 9 April 2026. Available at: https://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/media/ezefhwcs/statement-of-persons-nominated-town-_-parish-councils-7-may-2026.pdf [Accessed 9 April 2026].

The remorseful day

I was diagnosed last year with ADHD of the inattentive type. It has not been a fun time and I’ve been struggling to articulate how I feel but I think I’ve found something that captures where I am and what I fear for the future in AE Housman’s poem, ‘How Clear, How Lovely Bright’, though possibly better known for its last line that was used in the Morse books and television programmes: ‘The Remorseful Day’.

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Local government reorganisation – Huntingdon Town Council’s response

I wrote the following as a draft for Huntingdon Town Council’s response to HMG’s consultation on local government reform in Cambridgeshire. It went through unamended except that I hadn’t included the answer on the question specific to Option D; it was added in as an amendment.

I know that not many people will read it and it will probably have very little, if any, impact on the decision made. I am nonetheless quite proud of it as a piece of work. For one, I believe it is valuable for towns and parishes to be engaging in the process. Secondly, Making the case for the Town Council’s preferred Option E while avoiding accidentally supporting our least preferred Option D, and putting it in language that would, I hope, appeal to decisionmakers was a challenge (and an enjoyable one).

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Planning, parking, and performance – annual report 2025

As the year comes to an end, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what I’ve been working on as a town councillor, and what’s gone well, what’s been slow, and what I’ve learned along the way. This is a long post,so please feel free to skim or dip in and out.

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Local government reform data

I asked both Cambridgeshire County Council and Huntingdonshire District Council, under the Freedom of Information Act, for the data they’re using to inform the three options for local government reform that have been presented for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Their answers are basically that they are using publicly accessible data and they very helpfully provided links to the data they’re using. It all follows below.

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