Co-option Policy

CO-OPTION POLICY

Adopted in 2012
Reviewed January 2022

Procedure

If the process of co-option is used – the Parish Council may co-opt whom it wishes to fill a casual vacancy, subject of course to the qualification requirements for being a local councillor.

The person co-opted must receive a majority of votes of those councillors present and voting at the meeting at which the co-option takes place.

Co-option vacancies will be advertised widely in the village, applicants will be asked to complete a short application form, and attend a short interview with the Council in order that Councillors can assess the applicant’s suitability for and understanding of the role.

Who can be a candidate?

To be qualified to be elected a member of the Parish Council you must be 21 years of age or over at the date of your nomination, and a British or Commonwealth citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Ireland or a citizen of another Member State of the European Community, and either:

1. be a registered local government elector for the Parish both on the day your are nominated and election day. You can check this by contacting the Electoral Services Unit; or
2. you must have occupied as owner or tenant any land or other premises in the Parish during the whole of the twelve months before the day you are nominated and election day; or
3. your principal or only place of work in the twelve months before the day you are nominated and election day has been in the Parish; or
4. you must have lived in the Parish or within 4.8 kilometres (3 miles), during the whole of the twelve months before the day you are nominated and election day.

Who cannot be a candidate?

Certain people are disqualified from being elected. You cannot be a candidate if you:

• hold a paid office under the Parish authority or a politically restricted post
• have been adjudged bankrupt
• have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three months or more (including a suspended sentence) without the option of a fine, during the five years before election day; or
• have been disqualified under part III of the Representation of the People Act 1983 or under the Audit Commission Act 1998.