PARISHES v WARDS

Question

Our PC has two wards consisting of a) 19 and b) 2 Councillors. The smaller one has a vacancy which is proving difficult to fill .  Can someone  living in ward A (which has no vacancies)  be co-opted into the Ward B vacancy.  Our co-option policy only requires living in the Parish as a whole. I must be honest and say I dont know what the difference is between the various Councillors  as we make collective Council decisions?

Answer 1

Yes .........

Answer 2

Anyone, in all other regards eligible, and living within 3 miles of the subject parish is eligible regardless of which ward they live in.

Comments

Thanks. knowledge is power

Answer 3

Your question highlights that unless you have two or more separate communities the whole concept of multiple wards is an anachronism

Comments

Does it? ........

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One PC with three wards had an election in one ward but the loosing candidate was then co-opted because there was insufficient candidates in another ward which strikes me as a complete waste of money
Yet an adjacent PC has a single ward and 13 seats so wouldn’t have that problem
I can understand multiple  Wards in Borough Councils but not Parishes elections

Answer 4

Are you Charfield PC Jamie?

Comments

Nope LA .  Some say LALA land

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Please excuse me but I am trying to get my head around all this separate ward stuff.  I get it that at election time there are  separate elections to form part of one Parish Council but unsure what rights/privileges exist separate from that.
Firstly, when it comes to co-option do we recruit against vacancies by ward or in total ?. I have already touched on who can apply but if we have two wards one with two vacancies but four applicants and one with two vacancies and two applicants wouldn’t it make sense for any savvy applicant to make sure he applied for the two vacancies ward and was therefore guaranteed acceptance?
However once elected what special privileges do separate ward status come with, if any or can they only be determined by a Council resolution.? For example, we have a Finance Committee and the TOR advise that the small ward has  guaranteed membership  on said committee.

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I think technically what you have is known as a pigs ear which is exactly why I feel elections should be for the Council not a ward
I’d suggest you just ask candidates to ask for cooption to the Council and then allocate the ward
With regards to allocating positions on a ward basis words fail me

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I disagree.  Sometimes it pays to understand the technicalities.  I once resigned over a row with long standing Councillors and the clerk but was persuaded by local residents to call an election and I applied for my own vacancy. Fortunately no-one twigged and you could have cut the air with a knife when I was elected unopposed. It became even worse as the election was for two resignations and the PC continued to receive a bill for the unfilled vacancy until the end of the current Council .  On the new Council some of the longstanding Cllrs have gone and now its a numbers game.   As regards co-option it is surely a different form of election but still an election is it not? As such surely the same rules apply . Look I am not going to die in a ditch over this but feel the need to know the information if it is required

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I’ve done the same for someone by getting 10 residents to call for an election as it’s a useful backstop and reminder that at the end of the day it’s the residents that should pick the Councillors
But in your case you have six candidates for four positions so what harm is there in picking the best four?

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But with co-option its Councillors who choose and sometimes you want to give your preferred candidate the best chance