The Electoral Services department of Somerset Council has confirmed that the regulation 10 requests from electors have not been fulfilled and the parish council may now fill the casual vacancy by co-option.
If you are interested in serving as a parish councillor, please submit an application to the clerk confirming that you are qualified to be a councillor. The council meets once a month on the last Tuesday in the month, it is anticipated that you would also take a seat on one of the council’s standing committee’s. If you would like to know more about the role, please contact the clerk.
The closing date: Monday 3rd February 2025.
Candidates will be invited to speak with members of the Policy and Resources committee week beginning 17th February 2025, and council will vote at a meeting on 25th February 2025.
Full details of the process can be found below.
Application form Cheddar Ward. (DOCX download 33KB)
Email: clerk@cheddarparishcouncil.org
Post: Clerk, Cheddar Parish Council, The Parish Hall, Church Street, Cheddar BS27 3RA
Tel: 01934 743217
This notice is also available on the parish council noticeboard.
CO-OPTION PROCEDURE
Introduction
If no request for an election is received by Somerset Council by the date of the Notice of Vacancy, the Electoral Services department will advise the parish council that it may co-opt to the vacancy. Co-option is the process by which the parish council selects a new councillor and it is done as an agenda item within an Ordinary Parish Council meeting.
The parish council manages the process of co-option by itself and aims to demonstrate that it is fair and transparent by following the procedure set out below:
Procedure
1. Cheddar Parish Council invites interested candidates to apply to the Clerk by a specified date via notices placed on its main noticeboard and website. The application form will ask candidates to confirm they are qualified to be a Councillor and a brief explanation of why they would like to be a parish councillor.
2.All applicant candidates will be invited to meet with members of the Policy and Resources committee.
3. Following this meeting the committee will make a recommendation to full council of candidate(s) for co-option. The number of candidates will not exceed the number of vacancies.
4. Candidates(s) recommended for co-option, will be invited to the next meeting of full council for the purpose of being elected as a member of the parish council.
6. At the meeting of full council, the successful candidate(s) will be declared co-opted to the parish council and, after signing the declaration of acceptance of office, will be asked to join the meeting.
7. The successful candidate is a councillor in their own right and is no different to any other member; co-option is a legitimate form of election as part of the election process.
Qualifications to be a Councillor
A person is qualified to be elected and to be a Councillor if they are a British, Commonwealth, Irish or European Union citizen and on the relevant day (that is, the day of nomination or election) they are 18 or over.
In addition, the person must meet at least one of the following criteria
(1) on the relevant day and thereafter they continue to be on the electoral register for the parish, or
(2) during the whole of the twelve months before that day they have owned or tenanted land or premises in the parish, or
(3) during the whole of the twelve months before that day their principal or only place of work has been in the parish, or
(4) during the whole of the twelve months before that day they have resided in the parish or within three miles of it.
Except for qualification (1), these qualifications then continue for the full term of office, until the next ordinary elections.
Certain people are disqualified from standing, and these include paid officers (including the Clerk) of the council, bankrupts and those subject to recent sentences of imprisonment.