WANBOROUGH is gearing up for the first contested parish council election in decades.

Going head-to-head are a footballer-turned-pub landlord and a businessman whose interest in parish politics was sparked by an unsuccessful campaign to reopen a Wanborough footpath.

On Thursday, they will go to the polls. And Wanborough, a village of just over 2,000 people at the 2011 census, will decide who it wants as its newest parish councillor.

If he wins, candidate John Warr swears there will be no awkwardness with his new council colleagues. But that could be difficult for the dad-of-two, who moved to the village 18-months-ago.

For the past year, the marketing manager has been a regular attendee at Wanborough Parish Council meetings. He’s not the most popular figure with the council, he says.

In January, keen runner John led a campaign to get a village footpath drawn back on the maps. Walkers and runners claimed they hit a brick wall when they arrived en masse at a parish council meeting to try and get a decision to close the Sutors Lane path overturned.

In his manifesto, John has called for the reopening of blocked footpaths and for local paths to be reinstated.

But his key focus is on council transparency. A poster backing his campaign describes the candidate as acting “for openness and transparency”.

He told an audience of Wanborough residents at The Harrow pub on Monday evening: “I have been going to the parish council for a year, asking them questions. I’m probably the person they least like to see walking through the door.”

John has also been using freedom of information laws to try and get information about parish finances and decisions released to the public.

“I’m genuinely concerned some decisions are going through that haven’t been thought out,” he said.

Despite this reputation for awkwardness, John claims he could easily work with the councillors he frequently finds himself interrogating: “I’m a positive person. I’m not out to get people. Justice is my thing.” If he wins, he said he would be a team player.

Less than a mile away up the hill from The Harrow, fellow parish council candidate Jon Beeden was busy in the kitchen at The New Calley Arms.

The 26-year-old moved to Wanborough four-years-ago to run the pub with mum Barbara Lockwood, a former head of forensics job at Wiltshire Police.

Jon holds down two jobs. As well as working at the pub, he’s signed to Chippenham Town as a left-back.

On the football pitch he has a reputation as a tough-tackler. But there’s little of that aggression when he speaks to the Swindon Advertiser in the New Calley Arms beer garden.

He said: “Wanborough has a really tight community, with a proper pub. I wanted to get onboard and maybe bring a bit of youth to the council. I thought I might be able to bring something a bit different to it, different views.

“I’ve read John’s manifesto and a lot of the things are similar. We have a lot of similar ideas. It’s a shame we can’t both get on the council, because I think we’d bring a lot to it.

“I do feel quite strongly that I want to get involved. Younger people need to get involved in politics. I know it’s only village politics, but whatever we can do to get the village out there and people on board the better.”

Neither John Warr or Jon Beeden know which way the vote will go tomorrow.

The young footballer said: “I have no idea. I’ve got a good group of locals, who know me personally and think I’ll be good for it, but really I haven’t got a clue.”

Down the hill at The Harrow, John Warr smiled: “It’s going to be tight. I’ve got some competition.”

Polls open at 7am at Wanborough Village Hall, High Street, and will close at 10pm.