Members disqualified by Principal Authority and reconstitution of Parish Council

Question

The Principal Authority have deemed the Members of my Parish Council are now disqualified as they have not attended a meeting for a considerable time. The Principal Authority state they will shortly reconstitute the Parish Council by appointing 3 Councillors from the Principal Authority to the Parish Council who will then advertise the remaining vacancies for two members.

I am a local elector and would be very grateful if anyone could tell me if this is the correct procedure undertaken by the Principal Authority in this matter or point me in the direction of the relevant legislation and/or procedure.

Many thanks.

Andrew

Answer 1

If all the councillors were absent (ie. they did not attend a meeting or an approved duty) for more than 6 consecutive months then they are disqualified.  From the information you have provided, the principal authority are acting correctly by appointing, on a temporary basis, 3 councillors to enable the parish council to function.  The principal authority will also be arranging for elections so that the requisite number of parish councillors can be appointed by either election or subsequent co-option. This is what I would expect the principal council to do and, your case, they appear to have done it.

Comments

Many thanks for your reply John1706.

Answer 2

One important point. When is the next scheduled election for the parish council? The PA shadow councillors should normally be seeking to fill all five vacancies, not just two either by elections or co option unless the next scheduled election is in May 2022.  Did the Parish council resolve to suspend meetings until Covid regulations about indoor gatherings were lifted? The local government act 1972 might technically allow that.

Comments

The Actt says (1)Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, if a member of a local authority fails throughout a period of six consecutive months from the date of his last attendance to attend any meeting of the authority, he shall, unless the failure was due to some reason approved by the authority before the expiry of that period, cease to be a member of the authority" .It could be argued that  if every councillor agreed at their last attended meeting that they could all  mutually decline to attend future meetings  on the basis that "some reason" was Corona Virus 2020 regulations,  they would have effectively endorsed them as a reason not to attend, and therefore not cease to be members.

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Many thanks Graeme_r. This PC has many failings that are now subject to investigation etc. by the relevant authorities and it appears the members simply couldn't be bothered to attend meetings.

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Time for a clean sweep and new blood

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Thanks for that, however, the question of when the next scheduled election is due, needs to be known.  Shadow councillors are supposed to help a Town or Parish Council in transisition, e.g. to become established or re established.  They are not meant to assume control of it for several years with no electoral or other selection process mandate.