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When a clerk does not advise the District Council or issue vacancy notices  when Councillors resign and instead moves straight to co-option are the co-opted Councillors legally appointed?    If so should they be removed and is there any advice on such a scenario
by (5.1k points)

2 Answers

0 votes
If the circumstances you describe are accurate, you should contact your local electoral registration office and ask them to investigate.

There must be a notice of casual vacancy to the ERO, there must be the opportunity for electors to request an election and only AFTER that process has competed can there be a co-option.

Your clerk is not empowered to circumvent those stages and your council is not empowered to co-opt until AFTER those stages have been completed.
by (23.9k points)
The only time a council can move directly to a co-option is if/when there are vacancies following a full council election when any unfilled seats can be filled by co-option "as soon as practicable" after the election.  I'm not sure if anyone has actually defined "as soon as practicable".
Good spot! I forgot about that anomaly
I’d be interested to know the source of this information please.
It's contained in s21(2) RPA 1985.  Interestingly, there is no time limit for the council to co-opt it seems.  If the numbers of candidates does not meet the minimum number for a quorum after a full election, the county council (or whoever your elections authority is) must act to ensure there is a quorum within 35 days but the 35 days is not a limit on the time within which the parish council can co-opt.  It does seem possible then that if a full election occurred in 2023, the council could still have vacancies that it can move straight to co-option to fill.
Now that's interesting because I read S21(2) in reverse view to you and consequently that the 35 days period is a fixed event.  This is one of those occasions where we would debate the issue over a cup of tea (or something stronger) and thrash it out.  That, of course, is not possible here.  Thanks for responding though.
I interpret the intention being that s21(2) provides that the council may co-opt "only" (my emphasis) where an election fails to return sufficient candidates for the council to be quorate.

It would be a lot clearer if the first word in para (2) was "if" rather than "unless."
If the council IS quorate, I read that as NOT providing authority for the council to co-opt.

Logically, you would move direct to co-option if inquorate but it would be impossible to have a valid co-option IF inquorate...


Ambiguity and uncertainty in the legislation - who'd have thought it...
But in any case, if it is years after an election - the point remains, the clerk should notify the ERO of the vacancy
Our county council issued an interpretation of the legislation immediately after the last full elections and allegedly based upon a legal opinion that the 35 days applies to the elections authority and not parish councils but I'm no expert/
0 votes
Is this a regular issue, or just a one off?
by (460 points)
Our Electoral office says there is no legal requirement for Clerks to advise them of resignations.  Clerks  must however issue a vacancy notice which must include the option of 10 electors  to contact the election office to arrange an election .  Is that correct ?   Also do copies of vacancies notices have to be retained

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