Guy Ward-Jackson, Freya Jones, Hector Worsley and Charlotte Perry report.

The Oxford Blue presents an overview of Oxford candidates in the local elections held on Thursday 5th May 2022. This is not a comprehensive list, but covers those standing in wards with the highest student populations. Polling is open from 7am until 10pm and whoever is elected will serve until May 2026.

Summertown Ward – OX2 7BA 

Conservative Party: Mark Gregory Beer is running as a first-time candidate in any local election

Labour Party: Christopher Mark Dobell Hull has previously run for seats in St Margaret’s and Summertown. Mark places particular emphasis on clean rivers and enforcing safer cycling regulations.

Green Party: Indrani Sigamany is associated with the University of York centre for Applied Human Rights. She is a social scientist. 

Liberal Democrats: Katherine Sarah Miles is currently a member of the Oxford Town Council and was elected for the first time in 2021 for Summertown ward.

Cowley Ward – OX4 3HZ

Conservative Party: Kate Kettle has previously stood in Wolvercote and Summertown, as well as Hinksey Park.

Labour Party: Mohammed Amar Latif would like to build 620 council houses in the next four years and was elected for the ward in 2021, now re-running.

Liberal Democrats: Andy Wilkins.

Green Party: Steven Rogers, standing for the Green Party, “is an Oxford-based aerospace engineer and volunteer standing for election for the first time. [He] believes in finding practical solutions that benefit the local community … and will work hard to protect our green spaces, especially the Lye Valley.”

Walton Manor Ward – OX2 6HD

Conservative Party: Penelope Anne Lenon has been a governor of Headington School since 2013, and a trustee of Action Deafness since 2019. 

Green Party: Peter Thompson has been “involved in green issues since the late 1970s” and, when stationed in Germany, “watched the rise of the German Greens with fascination”. 

Labour Party: Ann Louise Upton has been the candidate for Walton Manor since 2021. She is a neuroscientist working at the University of Oxford, researching and teaching medical students. She is also currently a cabinet member for Healthy Oxford and Champion for Cycling.

Liberal Democrats: Liz Wade stood in Wolvercote in 2018 and 2021 and was elected both times.

Carfax and Jericho Ward – OX1 1AF

Conservative Party: David James Pope has attempted to run in several elections since 2017.

Labour Party: Alexander John Hollingsworth is an “experienced local councillor who runs a small business buying and selling books”. Previously, Hollingsworth served as a councillor for the preceding Carfax ward since 2014. He has lived in Jericho for nearly thirty years.

Liberal Democrats: Kai Michael Pischke is a third year computer science student at Somerville College, who stood unsuccessfully for St Mary’s in the 2021 local election. He is the former OULD president.

Green Party: Sarah Janet Edwards has a background in the voluntary sector. She is involved in several local organisations, including Low Carbon Oxford North. Edwards aims to help tackle the housing crisis in a way which avoids ruining the city’s green spaces.

Holywell Ward – OX1 4BH

The candidates for Holywell Ward include Janey Little for the Lib Dems, a PPE student at LMH; Edward Mundy for the Labour Party, who was elected in 2021, and was seen as the protest urging for Boris Johnson’s resignation last Friday; as well as Dianne Regisford for the Green Party, a recent PHD graduate and small business owner. 

These summaries are based on the candidates’ available manifesto material and a full list can be viewed here.