Seats are up for grabs on Oxford City Council, Cherwell District Council and West Oxfordshire District Council in the county today, Thursday, May 7.

Across England, Scotland and Wales, more than 5,000 council seats hang in the balance today in the largest set of contests since the 2024 general election.

READ MORE: Oxfordshire elections – what is needed to vote confirmed

Polling stations are open from 7am until 10pm, and voters will need to take ID to be able to vote.

Voters go to the polls today, May 7 in Scotland, Wales and many parts of England

Voters do not need to take poll cards with them to vote, but should have received them according to the local authorities with seats up for grabs.

Oxford City Council has 48 councillors in total and two in each of the city’s 24 wards.

Half of the city council’s seats, one councillor per ward, are elected every two years and serve four year terms. Today, 24 council seats are contested.

READ MORE: Oxford City Council election – List of candidates revealed | Oxford Mail

The count is expected to take place overnight for the city, and will decide the political makeup of the council in what is expected to be its last ever election ahead of local government reorganisation.

Candidates for the city are standing for all parties, including Labour, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, Greens, Independent Oxford Alliance and Reform UK.

The full list, broken down by ward, is available on the Oxford City Council website.

Polling Station (Peter Byrne/PA) (Image: Peter Byrne/PA)

In Cherwell District Council, a third of seats are up for grabs on the council which has been under no overall control since 2023, but is currently led by the Liberal Democrats.

READ MORE: What’s at stake at the 2026 local elections in Cherwell?

Eighteen seats are being contested across 16 wards, with two councillors to be elected in both Banbury Calthorpe & Easington and Bicester West.

In total, 95 candidates are standing: 18 each from the Green Party, Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats and Reform UK, 13 from Labour, eight from the Independent Party, and one each from the Animal Welfare Party and the Social Democratic Party.

The count is expected to take place tomorrow, Friday, May 8, with results coming in during the afternoon.

Similarly, West Oxfordshire District Council is currently run by a Liberal Democrat minority.

READ MORE: Local elections 2026 – what’s at stake in West Oxfordshire?

Of its 49 councillors, 16 are up for election in this cycle, a third of the council.

A total of 102 candidates are standing, representing parties across the political spectrum, to contest 21 seats currently held by the Liberal Democrats, four by Conservatives, two by Labour, one Green and one Reform.

Across the county, Labour under Keir Starmer’s premiership are expected to suffer a sweeping downturn, with major seat gains for candidates outside the main parties, including Reform and Greens.

Developer The Hill Group has been given the go-ahead for a new residential development in Kidlington, north Oxfordshire, which will see 96 homes built on former green belt land.

The site, on land at Bicester Road and Water Eaton Lane in Gosford, Kidlington, was allocated for a wider housebuilding development in the Cherwell District Council local plan, for a total of 430 new homes to be delivered.

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A total of 50 per cent of the 96 new homes will be affordable, with a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as two-, three- and four-bedroom houses.

These will be provided for a combination of Shared Ownership and affordable rent accommodation, in partnership with housing association Sovereign Network Group (SNG).

The Hill Group has been given permission for a major housing development in Kidlington (Image: The Hill Group)

In addition to the mixed-tenure homes, the development will include formal and informal sports and plays areas for use by the new community.

All the private sale homes will be houses ranging from two to five bedrooms.

The Hill Group said the site has now been acquired by the housebuilder, after years of work to bring the site forward.

READ MORE: Oxford Speedway ‘secured’ long-term future at stadium

Andy Hill OBE, founder and group chief executive of The Hill Group, said: “This planning consent is the result of nearly seven years of commitment, collaboration and determination from our planning team.

Andy Hill OBE, founder and group chief executive of The Hill Group (Image: The Hill Group)

“Bringing forward complex sites like this takes time, patience and a willingness to work closely with all stakeholders.

“We’re proud to have now reached this crucial stage, and of the strong relationships we’ve built with Cherwell Council, which have been fundamental in making this development possible.

“North Oxford has a clear need for private and affordable homes, and this development will deliver exactly that, alongside meaningful benefits for the wider community.”

It comes after Kidlington was awarded town status in February this year, following a unanimous vote from the parish council and a public consultation, granting the green belt around the town greater protection under new Government planning regulations.

Councillors said the town status would make Kidlington more defensible from “land grabs” and prevent it from being absorbed into Oxford.

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As part of the planning agreement, half a hectare of land from the housebuilder will be donated to the parish council for an extension of the town’s cemetery, to help support Kidlington’s ‘long-term needs’ with a key piece of infrastructure, according to the developer.

Jenny Grote, the land a business new business director south for SNG, the housebuilder’s partner provider, said: “We have an extremely positive and long-standing relationship with Hill and are delighted to be working together once again to bring forward a range of high-quality, much-needed, affordable homes in Kidlington that will make a real difference to local people.”

Construction is set to begin later this spring with the first homes being completed in the spring of next year.

Over the years, his voice has become an iconic backing to some of the BBC’s most loved documentaries, from the Planet Earth series to Frozen Planet.

Both on and off screen, he has also shared his wisdom on how we can help the planet.

As the country celebrates the milestone day for the broadcaster and naturalist, here are some of his most memorable quotes.

David Attenborough’s career as TV star turns 100

Sir David was born on May 8 1926, in London, the son of an academic and principal of University College, Leicester.

Before joining the BBC in 1952, he studied geology at the University of Cambridge and served two years in the Royal Navy, before earning his reputation with the groundbreaking Zoo Quest series, which he hosted for 10 years on the BBC.

In 1965, he became controller of BBC Two, overseeing the advent of colour TV, and he later became BBC director of programming, but life as a broadcast executive did not appeal, and he returned to his passion for filming wildlife.

His recognisable whispering voice became a household sound in 1979 when he was seen mingling and bonding with a family of gorillas in Life On Earth and its sequel, The Living Planet, in 1984.

The following year, he was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II before being awarded a Knight Grand Cross honour in 2022.

Sir David Attenborough was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2022 (Image: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)

The TV presenter has two children, Susan and Robert, with his late wife Jane, whom he married in 1950, while his late brother Richard was a well-known actor and film director, who starred in movies such as The Great Escape, Doctor Dolittle and Jurassic Park.

In recent years, Sir David, who resides in Richmond, has presented shows including Dynasties, Prehistoric Planet and Planet Earth III.

David Attenborough’s most memorable quotes

Sir David Attenborough’s hushed but excited tones have been heard in living rooms around the world for many years.

Here are just some of his most memorable quotes:

• “It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”

• “The future of the natural world, on which we all depend, is in our hands”

• “I just wish the world was twice as big and half of it was still unexplored.

• “The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?”

• “It is vital that there is a narrator figure whom people believe. That’s why I never do commercials. If I started saying that margarine was the same as motherhood, people would think I was a liar.”

• “You know, it’s a terrible thing to appear on television, because people think you actually know what you’re talking about.”

• “I don’t run a car, have never run a car. I could say that this is because I have this extremely tender environmentalist conscience, but the fact is I hate driving.”

• “If I can make programmes when I’m 95, that would be fine. But I would think I’ll have had enough by then.”

• “You have to steer a course between not appalling people, but at the same time not misleading them.”

You’re cordially invited to Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday bash at the Royal Albert Hall

Kirsty Young presents David Attenborough’s 100 Years on Planet Earth on Friday 8 May on #iPlayer and BBC One

Full details ➡️ https://t.co/nbnf2ZtcDK pic.twitter.com/o7KEr0r3wt

— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) April 28, 2026

• “I don’t think we are going to become extinct. We’re very clever and extremely resourceful – and we will find ways of preserving ourselves, of that I’m sure. But whether our lives will be as rich as they are now is another question.”

• “An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfilment.”

• “Our planet may be home to 30 million different kinds of animals and plants. Each individual locked in its own life-long fight for survival. Everywhere you look, on land or in the ocean, there are extraordinary examples of the lengths living things go to to stay alive.”

• “Ever since we arrived on this planet as a species, we’ve cut them down, dug them up, burnt them and poisoned them. Today we’re doing so on a greater scale than ever.”

Sir David Attenborough marks his 100th birthday today (May 8) (Image: James Manning/PA Wire)

• “There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the problems of staying alive.”

• “Reptiles and amphibians are sometimes seen as simple, primitive creatures. That’s a long way from the truth. The fact that they are solar-powered means that their bodies require only 10% of the energy that mammals of a similar size require. At a time when we ourselves are becoming increasingly concerned about the way in which we get our energy from the environment and the wasteful way in which we use it, maybe there are things that we can learn from Life In Cold Blood”.

Recommended reading:

• “A hundred years ago, there were one-and-a-half billion people on Earth. Now, over six billion crowd our fragile planet. But even so, there are still places barely touched by humanity.”

What is your favourite David Attenborough documentary series? Let us know in the comments (or in the poll above).