What elections are happening in Norfolk in May?
Getty ImagesThey were on. Then they were off. Now they are on again.
Local elections which were originally scheduled for Norfolk, then postponed, will take place on 7 May.
But after what one political leader called "the elections hokey-cokey", the voting could have a major effect on how Norfolk is run.
So which ones can you vote in?
Are county elections definitely taking place?
Paul Moseley/BBCYes they are.
After being called off in 2025 and briefly postponed at the end of last year, all 84 county council seats are up for grabs - and every registered voter in Norfolk can take part.
The authority is currently dominated by the Conservatives, who have 51 councillors.
With 10 seats, the Liberal Democrats are the largest opposition party, followed by Labour on nine and the Greens on four.
There are also six independent councillors and two vacant seats.
The biggest change to the electoral scene will be the emergence of Reform UK, who only contested three county council seats at the last election in 2021.
However, it now has two members on the authority, after winning a pair of by-elections last May and the party plans to have candidates for every seat.
Great Yarmouth First, set up by the town's MP Rupert Lowe, has said it will also contest the 12 seats in the area.
What other elections are happening?
Martin Barber/BBCNorwich City Council is the only district council in the county where voters can go to the polls this year.
Unlike most other authorities, when it holds elections only a third are up for grabs, which means 13 of 39 will be contested.
While Labour has run the council since 2006, it no longer has a majority and its position is under threat from the Greens.
If the Greens take three seats from the party (and retain all of theirs) they will seize control.
The only other party on the council, the Liberal Democrats, will be defending a single seat.
The Conservatives, who last had a councillor in Norwich in 2012, will not be expected to make much of an impact.
However Reform, who finished behind by just one vote in a by-election last year, will be looking to establish themselves on the council.
Why are Norfolk's other councils not holding elections?
Breckland, Broadland, Great Yarmouth, King's Lynn and West Norfolk, North Norfolk and South Norfolk last held elections in 2023.
Their next ones are due in 2027, although if the plans to reorganise local government go ahead, these councils will have been scrapped by then.
But Great Yarmouth may hold a by-election in May for a seat in Caister South, following the death of Councillor Malcolm Bird.
Why were elections postponed in the first place?
When Labour came to power nationally, it revealed plans for the biggest shake-up of local councils in decades.
The proposals for local government reorganisation will see Norfolk's existing county and district councils scrapped and re-formed into either one, two or three local authorities.
Meanwhile, a plan for devolution will also see the county sharing a mayor with Suffolk.
To allow time for all of that to take place, the 2025 elections for Norfolk County Council were put back by one year.
To provide even more time, the government was going to postpone it again – as well as this year's Norwich City Council elections – but dropped that plan following a legal challenge from Reform.
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