Co Option / Annual Parish Meeting

Question

Here's a teaser...

If we take the parameters of the APM as a given, would it be feasible in any way to undertake a co-option to fill Cllr vacancies at an APM?

APM is not a PC meeting but if a part of the APM was given over to a committee of the PC specifically to conduct the business of a co-option, could that work?  Could it NOT work - and why?

Are the difficulties of declaration of interests, record of attendance, minutes of the committee even achievable within the bounds of an APM or is it just too challenging?
Can co-option be by committee of PC or must it be whole PC?

The aspiration is to potentially bring the co-option as close as is possible to being a community event (for democratic credibility) noting that public may speak but not vote in a co-option process.

Genuinely open to suggestions / comments - its just 1 idea of several to try and crack the old "nobody cares about the APM" chestnut.

Answer 1

As long as the two meetings are entirely separate and you have complied with all of the requirements for a committee meeting as set out in the standing orders, this could be an option. I am not aware of any legislative requirement for co-option to be a whole council function, although there is clearly a strong argument in favour of this, so if you are setting up a committee specifically for this purpose, you may wish to consider whole council minus one. Alternatively, why not simply call an extraordinary meeting of the council for this purpose?

One final thought. If you are asking potential candidates to stand up and deliver a rousing manifesto speech, be mindful of the fact that this may not be an essential requirement of the role of parish councillor. The best candidate might be the quiet one!

Comments

All makes sense - maybe an XO immediately following the APM.
I’m not fixed on the idea yet - just thinking out loud.
Thanks for thoughts.

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If the APM is held during the lead up to the local elections it ,might fall within the purdah period. What are the rules about co-option to a local council during purdah?

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You wouldn't normally be co-opting during purdah, as co-options only run to the end of the term of office of the councillor who created the vacancy, which would be election day or thereabouts. The process of co-option only comes into play after an election if there were insufficient candidates to fill all seats on the council.

If you're going down the XO route, the agenda must specify the time of the meeting, so you would need to fix a time to break from the APM if it is still in session, conduct the XO, and then re-start the APM.

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We are not in the current round of LA elections. Our next election cycle is May 2025.
You wouldn’t co-opt if there were an election within 6 months of the casual vacancy arising.