A UKIP representative is among candidates vying to win a seat on Kerrier district council at a by-election in Porthleven next month.

The election, on November 11, follows the resignation of former representative John Strike, the current chairman of Porthleven town council, who was elected as one of the port's two district councillors earlier this year. Five candidates are standing in the election, including, for the first time, a UKIP representative.

Mike Carter, a committee member of the Falmouth/Camborne branch of UKIP, said the party hoped to field an increasing number of candidates in local elections in Cornwall.

"Our membership is growing," he said. "We have had a 50 per cent increase in membership in Falmouth/Camborne this year and we want to give people the opportunity to support the party at a local level. There is no reason why we cannot win seats on the district councils and the county council and we will be fielding more candidates over the coming months."

In the EU elections earlier this year, UKIP polled more votes in Kerrier, and in Cornwall as a whole, than any other party.

The UKIP caravan will be visiting Porthleven over the next two weeks to give local people the chance to talk to party representatives.

The candidates standing in the by-election are Jane Acton (Mebyon Kernow), Rosemary Joy Gunter (Liberal Democrat), Andrew Menzies-Grant (UKIP), Alfred Mesropians (Conservative) and William Raymond Rowe (Independent).