The seventeen borough councillors that will stand down next month

Unlike usual elections in Basingstoke, all 60 councillors will be resigning their seats, with most going back to the polls seeking re-election.

This is because of a number of changes, which include shifts in the boundaries of the individual wards, and the reduction in the number of councillors from 60 to 54.

This will mean familiar faces will be saying goodbye to the council chamber come the first meeting in May.

In total, 17 serving councillors have decided to stand down in May, with several decades of experience between them.

Conservative councillors (6)

Clive Sanders: The former council leader announced that he would be standing down in the final full council meeting before elections last month.

Cllr Sanders had the top job for seven years, before stepping down in May 2019.

Cllr Clive Sanders

First elected in May 2006 as ward member for East Woodhay, Cllr Sanders moved up the ranks quickly, being appointed to the cabinet the next year and then as leader in February 2012.

Tony Capon: Cllr Capon was elected to represent Kempshott in 2019 and has served for around two years.

Cllr Tony Capon

He is also the chief executive officer of the charity Basingstoke Voluntary Action, having previously been CEO of Young People's Independent Counselling.

Roger Gardiner: A former mayor in 2014-15, Cllr Gardiner was first elected to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council in 1992. He served the Calleva ward before that was abolished in boundary changes.

He served until 2008, where he failed to win election in South Ham.

Cllr Roger Gardiner

But that wasn't the end for Cllr Gardiner's career, after being re-elected to BDBC in 2012 in the Pamber and Silchester ward.

The accountant, who was also secretary of Basingstoke Theatre Trust, has been a member of Pamber Parish Council since 1991.

Dave George: The Whitchurch councillor was elected to BDBC in 2018, after almost five years heading up the Neighbourhood Plan committee in the town.

Cllr Dave George

At BDBC, he was vice chairman of the Development Control committee until 2020.

Clare Kinnear: Cllr Kinnear currently represents the ward of Kingsclere, which is being merged with part of Tadley this year.

Cllr Clare Kinnear

She was elected in the village in 2019.

Elaine Still: Cllr Still sits on both BDBC and Hampshire County Council.

She represents Chineham, or Loddon for HCC.

At BDBC, she was first elected in 2002, and in 2006 joined the cabinet after they took control of the administration.

Cllr Elaine Still

She became portfolio holder for the environment and in 2012, was portfolio holder for culture, communities, sport and leisure.

Cllr Still left the cabinet in 2013. She is standing down from the borough council, but is seeking re-election on HCC.

Labour councillors (6)

Mark Taylor: The Brighton Hill North councillor is standing down in this year's elections.

He was first elected in the ward in 2014.

Cllr Mark Taylor

This year, the two Brighton Hill wards are combining, seeing four councillors become three.

Paul Frankum: Cllr Paul Frankum, a former mayor, was first elected to Popley West in 1999.

Cllr Paul Frankum

When he was interviewed by Labour party members in the town ahead of 2020's planned elections, he was not reselected.

Jane Frankum: Paul's mother, Cllr Jane Frankum has represented the same ward since 1998.

She is standing down in protest at the party's treatment of her son, and hit out at the party in an interview with The Gazette.

Cllr Jane Frankum

Cllr Jane Frankum was mayor in 2016-17.

Colin Regan: Cllr Regan currently represents South Ham and is a retired member of a union.

Cllr Colin Regan

He has served South Ham since at least 2012, when the boundaries were changed.

Ruth Cooper: Cllr Cooper had been given special dispensation to not attend council meetings since 2020 after falling ill from Covid.

The Winklebury representative, came down with the virus on March 11, and was in and out of hospital. She has been suffering with long Covid since.

Cllr Ruth Cooper

She had been excused attendance because of her illness until May's elections, but attended the most recent full council meeting in March.

In February, Labour confirmed Cllr Cooper would be stepping down at May's elections.

Sean Keating: Cllr Keating too was excused attendance from council meetings in recent months due to ill health.

He served as mayor between May 2018 and May 2019, and has served the South Ham ward since 2000.

Cllr Sean Cooper

Cllr Keating was born in Blarney, County Cork, Ireland, and came to England at the age of 17 in search of work.

He is a former trade union official and moved to the town in 1983.

Basingstoke and Deane Independents (4)

Jack Cousens: Like the other councillors standing down from his party, Cllr Cousens was one of the nine Labour councillors to break away from the party in 2019.

He said people had become "disillusioned by party politics".

Cllr Jack Cousens

Cllr Cousens, who works as head of roads policy at the AA, first achieved election to Kings Furlong and Brookvale in 2012 and was the youngest ever Labour Basingstoke councillor at the time.

He announced that he was standing down earlier this month on Twitter, saying that he was "immensely grateful" to the community.

Mike Westbrook: Cllr Cousens' fellow ward councillor in Kings Furlong and Brookvale announced that he would be standing down on the same day.

He was elected to the ward in 2014, gaining the seat from Liberal Democrats.

Cllr Michael Westbrook

Cllr Westbrook is also standing down from Hampshire County Council, where he has served in the Basingstoke Central division.

Chloe Ashfield: Cllr Ashfield was elected to represent Whitchurch in 2016, gaining the seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Cllr Chloe Ashfield

She announced on Facebook last month that she would stand down at the elections in May, saying that it "feels like the right time to step back".

Janet Westbrook: Cllr Westbrook was elected to represent Popley East in 2016, alongside Cllr David Potter.

Cllr Janet Westbrook

With the two seats in Popley merging this year, the number of councillors there will reduce from four to three.

Independent (1)

Terri Reid: Cllr Reid, a former Conservative councillor, stepped away from the Conservative party in 2019 after frustrations with how the administration was being run.

Cllr Terri Reid

She told the Gazette at the time that the final straw was Cllr Ken Rhatigan's meeting regarding a planning application, saying that he didn't consult residents in the area.

Cllr Reid had been deputy leader of the council for many years, and sat as an independent, not attached to the BDI, for a number of years.