OVER the next week, candidates vying for your vote will be battling it out to be a councillor – but which wards will be a close race?

This year’s Slough local election will be special for two reasons.

First, this will be the first election with the Labour-run council’s massive financial debt and black hole on show. The council is having to sell up to £600m of its assets and make £20m savings every year for the next five years to reduce its £760m borrowing debt and ease its £479m black hole.

This election won’t change which political party runs Slough Borough Council because even in the unlikely event Labour loses all 15 seats, the party will have enough councillors to maintain a majority.

However, it will be interesting to see if residents still have faith in Labour and are confident council leader James Swindlehurst (Lab: Cippenham Green) and his cabinet can get the council out of its troubles despite happening under Labour’s watch.

Secondly, this will be the last election where a third of councillors are elected. The council decided earlier this year to swap to all elections from 2023 every four years following recommendations from a damning report into the authority’s governance.

Labour councillors attempted to cancel this year’s election, calling it a “redundant” election as it won’t change who runs the council. However, the government denied this request.

Slough Observer:

With the exception of Foxborough, all 15 Slough wards have candidates standing for the May 5 election.

While Labour has won landslide victories in the past, the party has had a few close calls and even losses in particular wards. Here are the battlegrounds to watch out for.

Langley St Mary’s

This ward has been fiercely fought over the last decade between Labour and the Conservatives. The ruling Labour party has managed to keep a firm grip on Langley St Mary’s for the last few elections.

However, Labour barely held this seat last year after Labour Cllr Bally Gill defeated her Tory rival Christine Bamigbola, who is standing for the Conservative candidate for Langley St Mary’s this year, by just 43 votes.

READ MORE: Slough 2022 election: Meet the candidates vying for your vote

Current Labour councillor Harj Minhas is standing again this year. Cllr Minhas won this seat in 2018 with a couple of hundred votes more than her Conservative counterpart.

Another fierce battle between Cllr Minhas and Ms Bamigbola will ensue. Will Labour be able to hold down this ward again for another year?

Langley Kedermister

Current councillor Preston Brooker is standing again as the Labour candidate for the ward. Cllr Brooker has represented the ward for many years and won by more than 300 votes than his Conservative counterpart in 2018.

Labour has historically won this ward by the skin of its teeth. However, the Conservatives managed to take this seat from Labour last year after Tory councillor Chandra Muvvala defeated then Labour councillor Michael Holledge last year by just 37 votes.

Cllr Brooker is facing Conservative candidate Sharon O’Reilly, who is not only well known in the community but has been a fierce critic of the council at meetings and online over the years.

Ms O’Reilly has stood as an independent councillor at previous elections but with the Conservative backing, it could be enough to secure enough votes to turn the ward blue.

Colnbrook with Poyle

Former mayor and current Labour councillor Avtar Cheema is facing her Conservative rival Puja Bedi again this year.

The pair have previously fought in the 2019 local election for Colnbrook with Poyle where Cllr Cheema won by only 77 votes.

This ward has two councillors representing the area. Cllr Cheema and Conservative leader Dexter Smith, who is also a Colnbrook parish councillor.

READ MORE: Former Slough mayor told to remove home extension

Even when it was Cllr Smith’s turn to stand for the ward, he only defeated his Labour rival Gurdeep Grewal, who now represents Upton, by 83 votes.

While the ward has been closely fought over the years, it could swing to the Conservatives this year because of Slough’s financial crisis and Cllr Cheema facing planning enforcement on her property.

Puja Bedi is well known in the community and has been a critic of Colnbrook Parish Council, to which she is a parish councillor. The parish has been criticised for raising its precept and on the way it governs itself, claims that have been refuted and denied by the Labour-controlled parish.