Chris Beazley (Ind): A proud grandfather, Chris is married and lives in Kettlewell, where he and his wife run a B&B. He came to Craven 27 years ago working in IT consultancy.

Taking early retirement, he has enjoyed life fully: gardening, blacksmithing, walking, supporting Wharfedale RUFC and giving back to the community. Chris is committed to local democracy and to getting things done, particularly for those needing help in getting their voice heard.

Chris chaired Kettlewell-with-Starbotton Parish Council, Wharfedale Junior Rugby Club, and the Craven Tree Trust, co-ordinated the successful campaign to save Kettlewell Primary School, championed a community fast broadband scheme and started the Upper Wharfedale and Littondale Sustainability Group to attract young families to the area. At 59, I have the skills, stamina and dynamism to fight for local people at county level, independent of party politics,” said Chris who describes himself as a man who values justice and fairness.

Jim Black (Labour and Co-operative Party): Born and brought up in Scotland, Jim is fully aware of the rural economy and the way of life for rural communities. Having lived in Yorkshire for 44 years, he considers himself a naturalised Yorkshireman.

As a retired police officer serving much of his career in Craven, he knows the area very well and knows its problems. “Geographically we are being cut off more and more with poor transport links with the rest of North Yorkshire,“ he says. “We need to restore these links if we belong to North Yorkshire. My values are as both a Labour and a Coop Party member is that people and communities are priority and we must adopt ways of developing good community projects that help the rising unemployed and disadvantaged in North Yorkshire feel valued and useful. If elected, I will ensure that these values are heard within North Yorkshire County Council.”

Shelagh Marshall (Cons): Shelagh has represented Mid Craven for quite a few years and her commitment and enthusiasm to represent the views of her electorate has not diminished. In fact she was nominated and shortlisted for the Councillor of the Year Award for her work and engagement with older people in February.

Her support for Upper Wharfedale School is well known after serving eight years as a governor, Evidence of the popularity of this school is shown in the high number of appeals for admittance in September 2013.

Shelagh believes any successes achieved are due to working closely with local communities and their parish councils. “I have a beautiful area to serve and lovely people to work with, I shall continue to ensure the voices of those in Mid Craven are heard very clearly at County Hall and further afield in London,” she says.

David Noland (Green): David is a 48-year-old teacher, living in Embsay. He has two young children and is a keen cyclist.

“I am excited by the prospect of the Tour de France visit to Yorkshire as a once-in-a- generation chance to give the local economy and infrastructure a massive boost,” he says. “I have a long-standing interest in all things Green because of the evidence that we are living beyond the means of the planet. I am appalled at the billions of pounds wasted on PFI contracts and on huge central projects like nuclear power and weapons, when small local projects and services in North Yorkshire are denied funding. I try to live sustainably and support local businesses, not multi-nationals, especially those that avoid paying fair tax on profits gained here. I’m keen to help make Mid Craven a great place to live in the long term not just the short term.”