Chairman living outside the Parish

Question

Our Chairman and Clerk (they are married to each other) live out side of our parish,  Neither of them have ever lived in the Parish one of the other councillors has said that he should not be the Chairman or even on the PC because of this. Is this correct.  We hardly have any councillors as everytime some one joins he upsets them. It has been said that our PC is run by two people the chairman and the clerk his wife and now I have been on the PC for a while I must agree.

Answer 1

If the chairman is not an elector of the parish, the relevant rules are:

• For the whole of the 12 months until nomination, the person has occupied land or other premises in the parish (as owner or tenant)
• Has resided in the parish or within 3 miles for the same period.  Residence requires having somewhere to sleep, but a person can have more than one residence.
• Has had a principal or only place of work in the parish for the same period.  Being a councillor counts as working in the parish, so will qualify a person to stand for re-election.  But the workplace qualification can only be used in a single parish because of the words "principal or only".

So it depends on exactly where he lives and works.

The problem of one person dominating a council can only really be solved by a determined group of other people and the ballot box.  All councils are up for election in May 2015, so it's a good time to get busy organising!