Residents are to get the chance to grill the political parties battling to win control of Lancashire County Council at next month’s local elections.

The ‘Lancashire Decides’ debate will see locals put the politicians on the spot about the issues that matter to them.

The event – co-hosted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Blog Preston, Lancashire Post and The Lancashire Lead – will take place at the Tickled Trout Hotel, on the outskirts of Preston, on Wednesday 16th April at 7.30pm. It’s free to attend and you can register to secure a place.

Read more: Lancashire County Council local elections: Preston and South Ribble candidates as voter registration deadline nears

The five main parties currently represented at County Hall – the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Reform UK – are all taking part.  

Leaders or senior figures from each of the groups will take questions from the audience and the host of the hustings – local democracy reporter Paul Faulkner – on a range of subjects.

Lancashire County Council accounts for the majority of your council tax bill and is responsible for a raft of the most important local services – including social care for adults and children, highways and transport, schools, public health, economic development and waste processing.  It does not cover Blackpool or Blackburn with Darwen.

With local government facing a combination of financial pressure and rising demand for services, this year’s local elections matter as much as ever – so why not come along and help collectively quiz the politicians who want to decide how things are done in your part of the world?

Maybe you would like to probe the parties about a particular local issue or a service you rely on – or perhaps you want to hear about their broader vision for the county you call home.

Either way, if you would like to attend and ask a question – or just listen in person to what the politicians have to say – you need to register via this link:  https://tinyurl.com/y3ptrycb.  Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

If you can’t make it in person, you can still put a poser to the party representatives.  Just keep an eye on the social media pages of the media titles that have teamed up to host the gathering – the Lancashire Post, the Lancashire Lead and Blog Preston – all this week, where you will be able to submit your questions.

A flavour of the answers – and a video of the full debate – will be available in coverage of the hustings ahead of the Easter weekend, in plenty of time for polling day on 1st May. See every candidate standing in the county-wide elections.

All you need to know 

Where? Tickled Trout Hotel, Preston New Road, Preston, PR5 0UJ.

When? Wednesday 16th April, 7.30pm start, with doors open from 7pm

Registration: complete the form here – https://tinyurl.com/y3ptrycb

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