If 2013 was the year of UKIP – they swept the board in Wisbech and picked up 12 of the 69 seats on Cambridgeshire County Council- that’s unlikely to happen in 2017.

With nominations now closed, and candidates announced, there’s a feeling of back to business in Fenland with 48 names put forward for the nine seats in eight wards now on offer.

A resurgent Lib Dem has been touted across much of the county and they’ve fielded candidates for all nine Fenland seats. Quite whether they expect their chosen candidates for March North to succeed though is questionable – one comes from Downham Market.

And in March South the Lib Dem candidate is from Ely – the same city that has produced a Lib Dem candidate for Wisbech east. The Lib Dem choice for Wisbech south is also from out of town – the village of Sutton between Chatteris and Ely.

Voters of course decide these things- as they will decide on the merits of Labour’s choice for Whittlesey north who comes from Yaxley Labour’s contender for Chatteris is from Wisbech and the party’s nominee for Whittlesey south is from Chatteris

The Tories are mainly immune from such geographic challenges although the sitting councillor for Forty Foot has recently moved from Doddington to March. He is standing for the newly drawn division of Whittlesey south following boundary changes.

The class of 2017 – whoever wins- will differ immensely from four years ago. UKIP county councillor Alan Lay is not standing, his colleague Gordon Gillick has moved, Tory Fred Yeulett is retiring and Fenland Council leader John Clark has also decided not to stand for the county. Also bowing out this year is another Conservative, Ralph Butcher.

Plenty of names on the ballot papers, however, will be familiar with district councillor Gavin Booth again attempting to win a county council seat for the Lib Dems.

Steve Court, another local Lib Dem district councillor, is again trying for a seat at county level – as is Labour’s Martin Field, whose electoral successes have previously (in the 1990s) included being a district councillor. Currently he is a town councillor and the only Labour councillor in Fenland.

An Independent candidate for Chatteris is Daniel Divine, familiar to many since he won the Littleport seat for UKIP in 2013.

Some eyes will be on parts of Wisbech where two independents created from the newly formed Wisbech Voices group have thrown their hats into the ring; they’ve also picked a candidate for a town council by election on the same day.

Cambridgeshire County Council holds elections every four years and following changes by the Local Government Boundary Commission the numbers have been reduced from 69 to 61 councillors who will represent the electorate in 59 divisions.

The elections are managed by the local district and city councils and you must be registered to vote.

This year there will also be a mayoral election for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority on the same day.

FENLAND

Chatteris (1)

Anne Hay (Con)

David Lewis (Lab)

John Freeman (Lib Dem)

Dick Mandley (UKIP)

Daniel Divine (Ind)

Steve Nicholson (Ind)

March North & Waldersey (2)

Steve Count (Con)

Jan French (Con)

Katharine Bultitude (Lab)

Martin Field (Lab)

Stephen Court (Lib Dem)

Scott Lansdell-Hill (Lib Dem)

Caroline Smith (UKIP)

Robin Talbot (UKIP)

Andrew Crawford (Green)

Ruth Johnson (Green)

March South & Rural (1)

John Gowing (Con)

Steven Smith (Lab)

Neil Morrison (Lib Dem)

Daniel Spencer (UKIP)

Rob Skoulding (Ind)

Elizabeth Wright (Green)

Roman Bank & Peckover (1)

Simon King (Con)

Jes Hibbert (Lab)

Gavin Booth (Lib Dem)

Chris Schooling (UKIP)

Whittlesey North (1)

Chris Boden (Con)

Steve Jansky (Lab)

Frank Bellard (Lib Dem)

Dawn Rhys-Owain (UKIP)

Alex Oates (Green)

Whittlesey South (1)

David Connor (Con)

Martin Lodziak (Lab)

Graham Kitchen (Lib Dem)

Dai Rhys-Owain (UKIP)

Karen Alexander (Green)

Wisbech East (1)

Sam Hoy (Con)

Sue Marshall (Lab)

Gareth Wilson (Lib Dem)

Susan Carson (UKIP)

Fay Allen (Ind)

Wisbech West (1)

Steve Tierney (Con)

Tina Eyres (Lab)

Christopher Ross (Lib Dem)

Paul Clapp (UKIP)

Sharon Horne (Ind)

Jonathan Miller (Ind)

Jane Feaviour-Clarke (Green)