Question

Do you have to submit to clerk an application to become chairman when time for new chair

Answer 1

The election of chair should be the first item on the agenda for the annual meeting in May. The current chair will normally ask for nominations from the members and anybody may nominate. Nominations need to be seconded to pass to a vote. You should check with your clerk whether they require nominations to be submitted beforehand.

Comments

A fulsome answer - right up to the last sentence.
Why would anyone need to check with the clerk?

First item on the agenda - tick

 A proposal, a second and a vote or any part thereof.
No need to pre-register an intention.

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It may be in their standing orders that nominations / paragraph as to why you want to be Chair, or something similar should be sent to the clerk in advance.  It may be a process that this particular council has chosen to adopt.

The Clerk is the legal and governance advisor for the council after all....

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I have heard of clerks using Standing Order 9b in this regard, often to protect the incumbent.

"No motion may be moved at a meeting unless it is on the agenda and the mover has given written notice of its wording to the Proper Officer at least four clear days before the meeting."

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In reverse order, in answer / response to Dave, concur the motion submitted in advance element may feature as a standing order but then you go on to mention clerks using this to “protect” the incumbent - I’m afraid that just sits wrong with me, as it should any champion of democracy.
And the in answer / response to Mrs Abstor, agreed the clerk holds the position of legal and governance ADVISOR, but whilst there is a requirement to CONSIDER the advice of a “proper officer” there is no compulsion or requirement to endorse or adopt it.
Sorry if I come across as negative or repetitive on subjects like this but my experience thus far has not provided me with any positivity on the subject.
I’m absolutely sure there are good clerks out there - I am genuinely envious of any PC that has one - but my limited personal experience to date has not provided a good starting point.
(I specifically EXCLUDE Dave from that status since he certainly DOES provide outstanding replies at this forum)

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There are many wise owls on this forum providing sage advice based on years of professional service.

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It is not an application you are submitting to the Clerk, but your nomination papers, with the names of two councillors supporting you.

The Clerk must not interfere with the process, except to ensure no Councillor nominates twice etc and that the election proceeds correctly.

So when the Chair states: the first item on the agenda is election of Chair, the Clerk passes them  a piece of paper stating "there are X number of valid nomination received, they are A, B, C.
The vote can be by show of hands or by ballot paper" (if permitted by standing orders)
If someone suddenly wants a ballot paper the Clerk, who is prepared distributed ballot papers to Councillors, and because they knew who was nominated, has the correct names.

It also helps the Clerk to ensure that there will be a Chairman, by alerting the Chair that no nominations have come forward so that the Chair (and not the Clerk) can chivvy up another Councillor to step forward.

Very few Clerks are power hungry (sidenote: JW did not have the authority) they just want the job done correctly.

Answer 2

Unless your standing orders state that there must be previous nominations  to the clerk for a new Chair, then nominations in that form are not needed and can just be put forward at the meeting for councillors to vote on.