A South Derbyshire councillor who resigned is to contest the election for the very seat she vacated.

Amy Wheelton, a former independent councillor and previously a Conservative, resigned from South Derbyshire District Council on June 1, for undisclosed reasons.

This created a vacancy for the Seales ward on the council which covers Catton, Coton, Lullington, Netherseal, Overseal and Walton upon Trent.

Ms Wheelton is now also among the four candidates contesting her vacated seat, with the by-election to take place on Thursday, September 9.

When asked what the cost of the "unnecessary election" would be, the council said it could not calculate the costs of a by-election in advance.

It was asked for the cost of a previous stand-alone by-election to serve as an example but has not responded at the time of this article's publication.

In the lead-up to the county council election, which then Cllr Wheelton also contested, Cllr Wheelton was caught on CCTV footage dumping hundreds of her election leaflets at the homes of her opponents.

Then Cllr Wheelton initially denied the claims, but later confessed and apologised, when presented with the CCTV evidence, saying the act had been a "joke".

Ms Wheelton did not respond when approached for comment.

Cllr Kevin Richards, Labour leader of the council, said: "Yes the vacancy was created by the resignation of the then Councillor Wheelton as the Seales ward representative, according to reports due to personal reasons and if as you say she is now standing in the by-election it beggars belief what the electorate will think.

"I personally believe a substantial amount of public, tax payers money, election officer time and associated staff is being wasted when there are other more important issues facing the authority at this moment in time.

"This is and was an unnecessary by-election."

Labour councillor Trevor Southerd, deputy leader of the authority, briefly commenting on the situation, said: "That is how democracy works."

Cllr Martin Fitzpatrick and Cllr David Angliss, the leader and deputy leaders of the council's Independent Group, said: "The South Derbyshire Independents are not sponsoring or endorsing any candidate in the upcoming by-election for Seales Ward.

"We stand neither to gain or to lose as a result and therefore, we'll respectfully leave it to those parties contesting the election to make any further comment."

Cllr Melanie Bridgen, leader of the council's Conservative group, did not respond when approached for comment.

The candidates standing in the by-election to elect a councillor for the Seales ward of South Derbyshire District Council are:

• Amanda Jayne Baker – Green Party

• Louise Ann Mulgrew – Labour Party

• Stuart Thomas Swann – Conservative Party

• Amy Wheelton – Independent

The successful candidate will join Conservative councillor Simon Ackroyd as councillor for the Seales ward. Both councillors will serve until the next local elections in 2023.

Polls on September 9 will be open from 7am to 10pm.

Ardip Sandhu, the council's returning officer for the by-election said: "Now the candidates have been announced, residents in the ward have the opportunity to decide who they want to represent them until the next local elections in 2023.

"Everyone eligible to vote in this by-election will receive a poll card with details of their polling station. It is not necessary to bring this poll card to the polling station to vote."

The deadline to register to vote in this by-election is Monday 23 August.