Opportunity for Arlesey residents to have their say on how their local community is represented
Friday, 22 April 2022
Residents in Arlesey are being asking for their thoughts on the number of town councillors in their parish.
The consultation, called a community governance review, was requested by Arlesey Town Council after it had difficulty attracting enough candidates to stand for election at the 2019 parish elections.
The town council is proposing to change the number of parish councillors from 12 to 7.
The consultation began on 20 April 2022 and people can share their thoughts online, or by requesting a paper copy. The consultation closes on 14 June 2022. A report of the feedback will then be compiled and presented to our General Purposes Committee for its consideration on 25 August 2022.
Councillor Steve Dixon, our Executive Member for Sustainability and Transformation, explained:
Some parishes, particularly smaller ones, find they have not been able to attract sufficient candidates to stand for election. This can lead to uncontested elections, where no vote is required because there is space for all the candidates.
Arlesey Town Council membership was last reviewed in 2017/18, when the number of councillors was reduced from 15 to 12. At the parish elections in May 2019, however, only 4 nominations were received. We were then required to appoint our 3 Arlesey ward councillors to Arlesey Town Council to make sure that there were enough councillors to allow proper decision making.
Appointing our councillors was a temporary measure until a sufficient number of the vacancies could be filled.
Councillor Dixon continued:
This is an opportunity for Arlesey residents to have their say on how their local community is represented as part of the democratic process and we welcome your thoughts and feedback. If anyone is interested in what it required in order to stand as a town councillor, I’d encourage them to talk to the town council.