Agenda item

To consider the attached Cabinet Report and make any appropriate recommendations to Cabinet.

The Electoral Services Manager presented the Cabinet report which proposed to pass on the full costs of uncontested Parish Council Elections to the Parish Councils concerned, both at the four-yearly Parish Council Elections as well as any Casual Vacancies in between.  The Electoral Services Manager confirmed that Legislation permitted any expenses incurred by the Borough to be passed on to the Parish.

The Electoral Services Manager reminded the Panel that previously the Council had agreed to charge Parish Councils for contested elections.  Now the Council were looking at further savings and recouping costs.  The Panel was informed that many other Councils already charged costs incurred for uncontested Elections and the amounts charged varied.

The Chairman thanked the Electoral Services Manager for her report and invited questions and comments from the Panel, as summarised below.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Long, explained to the Panel that this report had been presented to the Cabinet in April 2018.  Councillor Moriarty had attended the Cabinet meeting under Standing Order 34 and had raised concerns that the item had not been scrutinised prior to its presentation to Cabinet.  The item was therefore deferred by Cabinet so that it could be considered by the Environment and Community Panel.

Councillor Bubb commented that he did not think it was fair that all Parishes be charged the same amount for uncontested elections.  He asked if it could be related to their precept or size and what would happen if the Parish did not have a precept.  The Chief Executive commented that even though Parishes differed in size, the same amount of administrative work would have to be carried out by the Borough Council with regards to uncontested elections.  He explained that Parishes set their own precepts and would need to have regard to potential charges for uncontested elections.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Long, commented that the size of the Parish may not necessarily be related to the amount of vacancies or elections.  There were various reasons why there could be a Parish Council vacancy and an election required.  He explained that the work carried out by Electoral Services up until the time that the election was uncontested was additional work and should be charged back to the Parish Council.  He explained that in not all instances an Election would be required; Members could be co-opted onto the Council.

Councillor Hipperson queried how much the Council wanted to look after Parish Councils and he referred to Quality Parishes.  The Leader of the Council explained that Parish Councils were standalone bodies in their own right and he felt that they should pay for their own democracy, which included uncontested elections.

Councillor Parish addressed the Panel under Standing Order 34.  He explained that his Parish had a regular turnover of Councillors and often a by-election was not requested and Members were co-opted.  It was clarified that there would be no charges introduced for the co-option process.

The Electoral Services Manager explained that at the last election 90 out of 102 Parishes were uncontested.  The Electoral Services Team had to carry out a degree of work before they were uncontested and she confirmed that the proposal was that Parishes be charged for the work up to that point.

Councillor Smith explained that his Ward was within an unparished area, but his Council Tax payers still had to pay for the cost of uncontested Elections as it was a charge currently borne by the Borough.  He supported the proposals to introduce charging for uncontested elections.

Councillor Moriarty addressed the Panel under Standing Order 34.  He explained that some of the questions that he had wanted to ask had already been covered by others and thanked the Panel for bringing the item forward for Scrutiny.  He asked for clarification that if ten people did not request an election and the vacancy was filled by co-option, would this incur a charge.  The Electoral Services Manager confirmed that there would not be a charge for this.

RESOLVED: That the Environment and Community Panel supported the recommendation to Cabinet as follows:

To confirm the proposal to charge Parish Councils for their own uncontested elections.