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I am in dispute with our Clerk and Chairman.  I resigned from all my committees except the main council in protest at the lack of probity in our clerk's dealing with our council insurance company.

Can the Monitoring Officer ban me from standing for election in the coming round?  I should add I have not been referred to him on any count.
by (120 points)

2 Answers

0 votes
As long as you need the legal requirements, you cannot be prohibited from the full parish elections.
by (9.0k points)
0 votes
The short answer is a big fat no. That the MO has no powers to impose any penalties against councillors is a bone of contention for me. However, even if the MO had such powers, now being discussed in a government consultation on ethics in local councils, it would be madness to ban someone who is complaining about lack of probity in a parish council. Unfortunately you are very much not alone. Incompetence, bullying, sectarianism and dishonesty, both moral and financial, are all rife in parish councils, just at a time when central government wants to dump more and more responsibilities on them along with the associated costs because, guess what, parish council precept increases cannot be capped.  So you fight on. I think your decision to resign is not in your interests or that of your parishioners. Instead, you should invoke the rules and regulations whenever you see them being flouted and always, always report the breach to the relevant authority. Also, set up your own website and air these things in public. If you have cast iron evidence it is safe to name names, but I use satire, mockery and tedious repetition of the laws. It works. They do not like it up 'em. A wordpress site is very easy to set up and run, and it's free. Other web sites are available.

PS Before you set up a website perhaps I should explain, I am not a councillor, but I don't see that being a councillor would proscribe such a move so long as you do not hold out as representing the council, and you may have to tone your output down compared with my output.
by (560 points)
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