Voters will be asked to elect a new councillor in the Whitburn and Blackburn ward on December 11.
The poll follows the surprise resignation of Labour councillor David Russell in September.
The by-election will be the second since Kirsteen Sullivan was elected as MP for the new Bathgate and Linlithgow constituency in last year’ General Election.
Nominations open on Monday November 3 and will close on Friday 7 November. They can be made between 10am and 4pm each day.
A briefing for candidates and their agents will be held next week- Wednesday 29 October. If you are interested please email [email protected] as soon as possible.
The briefing will take place starting at 5pm on the afternoon of Wednesday 29 October. This briefing will be held in person in Committee Room 3 at West Lothian Civic Centre in Livingston.
Councillor Russell resigned from the Labour party and as councillor on 22 September, notifying the council’s Chief Executive Graham Hope of his intention to quit.
Neither the Labour leader of the council, Lawrence Fitzpatrick or local Labour party, were prepared to comment on his decision.
It is a blow for the minority Labour-led administration however, which will see its headcount reduced to just 11 councillors, including fellow Whitburn councillor George Paul.
Labour runs the West Lothian administration in a loose “confidence and supply” agreement, backed by four Conservatives, one Lib Dem and one Independent councillor.
The opposition SNP group has 15 councillors.
Mr Russell held the ward seat for Labour in a by-election last November with a narrow victory of only 71 votes over the SNP candidate Aileen Brown. Mr Russell polled 1,093 to the SNP’s 1,022.
An independent bid by local community councillor Tam Lynch saw him poll 421.
Last November’s poll was a disappointment for the Conservatives who slipped into fourth place behind Reform. They polled only 239 to Reform’s 578 votes.
The ward has four councillors and extends from the village of Greenrigg in the west to Seafield in the east. The seat has been divided between SNP and Labour-including long-serving councillors, the SNP’s Jim Dickson and Labour’s George Paul.
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
