A BY-ELECTION is to be held for a seat on Durham County Council this month.

The poll for the councillor position covering the Trimdon and Thornley division will take place on Thursday, September 28.

The vacancy comes following the sudden death of the authority's longest-serving member Morris Nicholls in July , aged 78.

Five candidates - four men and one woman - are running for the seat.

They include Liberal Democrat Alan Bell, of Sedgefield, Independent Maurice Brown, of Wheatley Hill, Green Party member Jonathan Elmer, of Langley Moor, the Labour Party's Jude Grant, of Thornley, and Conservative Party member Michael Smith, of Durham City.

A list of polling stations will be published on Durham County Council's website on Wednesday, September 20.

Applications, amendments or cancellations of postal votes must reach the Electoral Registration Officer at Room 1/104-115, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL, by 5pm on Wednesday, September 13.

Applications to vote by proxy must reach the same address by 5pm on Wednesday, September 20, and applications to vote by proxy at this election applied for on grounds of physical incapacity, where that physical incapacity occurred after 5pm on that date, must reach the address by 5pm on Thursday, September 28.