Where are elections taking place in the South?

The campaign leaflets keep dropping through the letterbox.

The doorbell goes and there is a smiling politician on the other side of the door wanting to chat.

It can only mean one thing - there is less than six weeks until an election.

On 7 May, people living in 11 council areas in Hampshire, three in Oxfordshire and two in Berkshire will elect new representatives.

There is also the first elections to new town councils in Dorset.

Here is everything you need to know about what is happening in the south's local elections.

Every seat on the Isle of Wight's unitary authority is up for election.

The council is currently run by the Alliance group, which comprises Independents, Our Island councillors and Greens.

Two of the three by-elections in 2025 were won by Reform, who have signaled this is a target council for them.

The island's financial situation is key - the council leader has warned changes to government financing have left the authority on the brink of effective bankruptcy.

And there are still hundreds of spare places in Island schools - whoever runs the council after 7 May is going to have to tackle that hot potato.

Hampshire County Council's is currently run by the Conservatives. They have controlled the council ever since it was created in 1973.

It would be a significant upset if they lost control. All seats are up for election.

In the eight districts and boroughs with elections, a change in just one or two wards could make a difference.

In Gosport, for example, the Liberal Democrats held 15 seats out of 28 after the 2004 May local election.

But there has been three by-elections since, with the Conservatives, Labour and Reform all winning a seat. The Lib Dems still run Gosport - but not with a majority.

Both of the leaders at Southampton and Portsmouth city councils are facing the voters themselves - Steve Pitt in Portsmouth for the Lib Dems and Alex Winning in Southampton for Labour.

In both cities, the interesting thing could be how many people opt for a Green or Reform choice.

Remember, all councillors elected in Hampshire will serve just two years. In 2028 new unitaries will take over - those were announced last week.

Elections are only being held in two out of Berkshire's six borough and district councils - Reading and Wokingham.

With only one in three councillors there even up for election, do not expect any fireworks.

Labour are way out in front in Reading while in Wokingham it is likely to be a tighter race between the ruling Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.

As for what voters care about, the pressure to build thousands more houses across Wokingham remains of huge concern to local people.

While in Reading transport issues, car parking charges and more general cost-of-living pressures are some of the topics which might tempt people into the polling booth.

Elections are taking place at Oxford City Council, Cherwell District and West Oxfordshire District Council.

They are all lower-tier authorities reponsible for housing, planning and waste collection.

But on the doorsteps it is often the state of the roads, low traffic neighbourhoods and the Oxford congestion charge which comes up for discussion.

Those are actually the responsibility of Oxfordshire County Council.

Oxford City Council has been run by Labour since 2010 but at the last election, they lost 12 seats and it is now a minority administration. This was largely due to the party's position on Gaza. Half the seats will be contested.

Labour councillor for Quarry and Risinghurst, Chewe Munkonge, is one of those who is hoping to be re-elected for the local authority as it will allow him to go on to make history as Oxford's first black mayor.

Cherwell and West Oxfordshire are both run by the Liberal Democrats at the moment, although neither has a majority, so they are supported by the Greens in Cherwell and Labour in West. A third of councillors are up for election.

Local government reorganisation is also happening in Oxfordshire so all councils which exist now will disappear and unitary authorities are due to provide all services from May 2028.

A public consultation on how the county is carved up has just ended.

There are no elections to either Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council or Dorset Council this time around.

Dorset has already undergone a huge shake up of local democracy - in 2019 eight district and borough councils along with Dorset County Council were scrapped.

They were replaced by two new unitary authorities - BCP and Dorset Council.

The plan was to save money and avoid duplication but now certain parts of East Dorset are getting a new layer of local government with the creation of town councils, in Bournemouth, Poole and Broadstone.

They are controversial - opposition councillors at BCP were highly sceptical about them being foisted on areas that they said did not want them.

There were also concerns about the set-up costs, as well as the salaries of three executive positions at more than £70,000 per post.

Although the list of candidates has not yet been released, a number of current BCP Council cabinet members are expected to be standing.

And the Reform group, of three councillors at BCP, have already stated that if it wins control of the council next year, it will "carry out a full review into the viability of continuing with them".

In other words, seek to bin the new town councils altogether.

The elections to these three third-tier town councils may not get the headlines and attention of some of the bigger contests in neighbouring counties, but are nonetheless, of huge significance to communities affected.