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Pendle Council plans to reduce number of councillors and frequency of elections
Published: Wednesday, 18th July 2018
Pendle Council is pushing ahead with plans to reduce the number of councillors and frequency of elections.
At the latest Council meeting on Wednesday 4 July, councillors discussed reducing the number of councillors from 49 to 30.
And they agreed to take the next step in moving from elections by thirds to whole elections. This means all councillors would be up for election at the same time every four years.
Councillor Paul White, Leader of Pendle Council, said: “We pledged to cut the number of councillors and a move to four yearly elections in our manifesto.
“This would save thousands of pounds in allowances and reduce the cost of running elections.”
Philip Mousdale, Corporate Director, explained that in recent years the nature and role of the Council has shrunk with a reduction in resources and services.
Meanwhile the number of local democratic representatives has increased significantly with the creation of town and parish councils.
Their roles are growing, especially with the transfer of services and facilities to them.
Philip said: “To change the number of councillors and wards, a formal electoral review needs to be done by the Local Government Boundary Commission.
“The Commission would make recommendations which would be the subject of a public consultation before a final decision is made.”
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