Gravesham voters go to the polls on Thursday as five candidates battle it out for the Gravesham East seat on Kent County Council (KCC).

The by-election will see representatives from all five main political parties going head-to-head.

Jacqueline Gordon and Tom Acres spoke to each of them as they bid to drum up support ahead of the big day.

Diane Marsh was a Conservative councillor for Whitehill from 2007 to 2011 and defected to Ukip in 2015 to campaign for Brexit.

She has since returned to the Tories. The mental health nurse highlighted mental health care, fairer allocation for children starting school, and better library services as the key elements of her campaign.

She added: “I also believe that integrated education is the best way forward, in that adult education, colleges, schools and libraries should be working together to reduce the amount of expenditure that they have.

“I believe in transparency, devolution and more power to local communities, which is why I voted to leave the EU.”

Labour’s Lyn Milner has served as Gravesham councillor for more than 20 years as a representative for Riverside ward.

She said: “The people of Gravesham are hurting because of the policies of the Conservatives. Our communities need a voice to challenge the cuts.”

Like Tina Brooker, the Labour candidate campaigned against KCC’s street light switch-off.

She has also voiced her concerns on traffic calming measures, pot holes and uneven pavements.

She continued: “If elected I will work to seek to improve local facilities and to ensure that County Hall listens to the opinions of our residents.“

Tina Brooker led the battle for street lights to be turned back on.

She said: “Ukip has got some really good ideas, a wonderful manifesto, and we are all about listening to the people.

“I joined Ukip because what I see down at County Hall is that councillors are whipped to represent the views of their party rather than the people, which I don’t like.

“I am persistent and don’t go away — if it’s wrong for the people then I will fight it until the end. I don’t just go away and give up,” she said.

“If something is wrong we need to challenge and change it together and you need a mix of people to make politics work for everyone.”

Fighting for the Liberal Democrats is Mark Marsh, who has been making use of social media to reach as many people as possible.

Despite a bruising 15 months for the party, members are confident of success in Gravesham.

Campaign manager Alan Bullion said: “We have had some great feedback. Social media has been tremendous in helping us to reach new people and we’re feeling very positive about the by-election.

“We have also used social media to collect feedback from people over common concerns such as street lighting, cleanliness of the streets and traffic. These are all things that we will be focusing on if we are elected.”

Martin Wilson wants better transport links in the area, both on the roads and the railway. He also wants to tackle air pollution in Gravesend town centre.

“I stood for Gravesham council as an independent last year and did a lot of door-to-door, so I am fairly well known in the area and can speak to people in the street,” he said.

“Parties tend to take very short term views and are looking for popularity in the short term, and I think we need a longer term view. The Green Party are more interested in sustainable infrastructure.”

Mr Wilson sees the biggest issues in Gravesham as the ongoing debate over a new Lower Thames Crossing and traffic in the town centre.”