Who is standing in the Coppice Valley by-election?

Dear Reader, this article is free to read. We publish about 100 articles a week all exclusively focused on local news. Please support independent local journalism by subscribing here. It costs as little as 14p a day.

Voters in Coppice Valley will head to the polls this week for a Harrogate Town Council by-election.

The polls will open on Thursday (August 6) to to elect a successor to Lib Dem Austin Wildmore, who resigned in June.

Cllr Wildmore served just over a year as a councillor after being elected in May 2025, with 40% of the vote. 

Now, candidates to succeed the Lib Dem councillor have been confirmed.

They include:

• Toby Brook Holbrey - Labour Party
  
• Clare Rebecca McManus - Liberal Democrat
  
• Jonathan Lloyd Shrago - Conservative Party
  
• Dareen Lee Townend - Reform UK
  
• Tamsin Jade Worrall - Green Party
  

Polls will open for the by-election at 7am and close at 10pm.

Information on where polling station will be situated for those who are eligible to vote in the Coppice Valley ward is available on the North Yorkshire Council website here.

The Liberal Democrats hold 13 seats on the town council. The Conservatives have three, Reform has one and there is one Independent. 

Lib Dems and Reform clash

It comes as Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats clashed this past week in the run up to election day.

A Lib Dem leaflet included an article headlined ‘Reform councillor slammed over poor attendance’, which said one Reform North Yorkshire councillor who defected from the Conservatives had only attended 57% of meetings.

The article did not name the councillor, but Oatlands & Pannal Ash Cllr John Mann switched allegiance this year.

Jonathan Swales, chair of the Reform Harrogate and Knaresborough branch, responded by saying two recent Liberal Democrat resignations had forced Harrogate Town Council by-elections in recent months.

A Lib Dem spokesperson responded:

“If Reform are genuinely concerned about the cost of by-elections, they might want to start by speaking to their own leader, who unnecessarily triggered one simply to end up running against a bin.”