Seven candidates standing to be the first Mayor of Cambridgeshire
Seven people are fighting for votes in the race to be the first elected Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
The post is a first in the Anglia region and the new so-called "Metro Mayor" will head a new devolved authority with additional powers over education and skills, transport, housing and planning along with health and social care.
The seven candidates are
Paul Bullen - UK Independence Party
Rod Cantrill - Liberal Democrat
Peter Dawe - Independent
Stephen Goldspink - English Democrats
Julie Howell - Green Party
James Palmer - Conservative
Kevin Price - Labour
The role partly mirrors that of the Mayor of London - a post currently held by Sadiq Khan but previously held by Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone.
Unlike the London position, which also has an elected assembly, the Cambridgeshire Devolved Authority is made up of members appointed from the seven county, district and city councils in the area.
The government says the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough devolution deal will give new powers to control local services, bringing jobs and prosperity to the area.
The new Mayor and Combined Authority will have a number of new powers and strategic priorities.
New planning and housing powers to manage planning across the region – this includes a £100 million Housing Investment Fund and an additional £70 million ring-fenced for Cambridge City to meet its housing needs
A devolved transport budget and transport powers to help provide a more modern, better-connected network
New powers over skills and in particular responsibility for the adult education budget in the region
Cambridgeshire is a county of contrasts with hi-tech, science and academically-led industries sitting alongside a traditional rural economy.
House prices can vary widely from area to area with Cambridge seeing some of the steepest housing costs in the entire country.
The average house price in Cambridge in January 2017 was £431,000 compared to £170,000 in Fenland.
Elections are being held on Thursday 4 May with polling stations open from 7am until 10pm. The Supplementary Vote system will be used where voters choose their first and second preferences from the candidates.
If any candidate gets more than half the first preference votes they are automatically declared the winner. If not, the top two candidates go through to the second round where the second preference votes of the losing candidates are added into the first preference votes.
The Anglia region does have one other elected mayor in Bedford but that position runs a single local council alongside elected councillors.
Along with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayor there will be newly-elected Metro Mayors in Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Tees Valley, the West Midlands and the West of England.
The original plan in the Anglia region was to have an elected Mayor of East Anglia covering the three counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.
That deal could not be sealed so the government agreed to form two devolved Combined Authorities - one for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and the other for Norfolk and Suffolk. The Norfolk and Suffolk deal collapsed.