Long Ashton keeps running elections with no candidates

Long Ashton has spent more than a year and over £700 re-running and re-running a parish council by-election which nobody wants to stand for.

The village has no way to stop the process — which costs them £92 in admin costs for each non-election they hold — unless somebody stands for election to the seat.

In the year that this has been happening, nobody has stepped up to do this — but it is not a case of political apathy.

Long Ashton parish clerk Hannah Harwood said: “The biggest thing that puts people off is that you hand deliver the papers to Weston-super-Mare, which seems so archaic but, the way the laws are written, that’s the way it has to be done.”

Anyone wishing to contest the election has to make the 20-mile trip from the village to the seaside town and hand their nomination papers into North Somerset Council’s offices in the town hall between 10am and 4pm on a working day.

Even people who are keen to be councillors are reluctant to do this when a far simpler route onto the council exists.

In fact, while the issue of nobody standing for election has been going on, three new councillors have joined the council by a method called co-option.

Co-option exists to avoid the situation that Long Ashton has fallen into.

Vacancies on parish councils are a common occurrence, whether caused by resignations from the council or too few people standing for election to begin with.

Rather than running a byelection for every vacancy, for which interest is often limited, people who want to become a councillor can apply to the parish council to be voted on as a new member at a meeting.

To prevent needless uncontested elections, an election for a vacant seat only needs to be held if 10 electors call for one.

This is what happened after two councillors on Long Ashton parish council resigned in October 2021.

“It is unusual to find a valid call for poll by 10 parish elector signatories without anybody then putting themselves forward as a candidate,” says Philippa Penney, head of democratic and electoral services at North Somerset Council.

North Somerset Council's offices are based at Weston-super-Mare Town Hall. (Image: Newsquest)

But this is what happened in Long Ashton.

After the resignations, 10 electors signed a call for an election to be held to fill the seats. But only one person stood for election: John Ives, who was one of the councillors who had just stood down. 

Mr Ives was elected uncontested back onto the council in December, filling his own vacancy, but the other seat remained vacant.

Ms Penney explained: “The returning officer must continue to re-publish the notice of election until such time that the vacancy is filled by election, whether this be contested or uncontested.

“This has been the recurring position for at least a year in the absence of receipt of any valid nominations, and we have been keeping the parish council updated throughout.”

She said: “The situation that Long Ashton finds itself in is a relatively rare situation.

“It is not an administrative error but is in accordance with the provisions of the election rules once a valid call for poll has been received.”

Long Ashton tried to run the election in March 2021 but nobody stood as a candidate. They have since re-run the election another seven times each time nobody has stood.

Ms Harwood believes the requirement to deliver nomination papers to Weston-super-Mare has put people off taking this route onto the council.

She said: “Anybody that wants to be co-opted, I try to encourage to go for the election but it just seems a bit of a faff.”

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She added that the parish council had spoken to North Somerset Council about cancelling the election, but were not able to due to the fact it had been called for by 10 electors.

But the issue is now coming to a conclusion by itself.

Ms Harwood said: “The next election will be the last one because it will be the last one before the full council elections in May.”

Anybody in Long Ashton who wishes to stand for the last by-election to the vacant seat will need to hand their nomination papers to North Somerset Council in Weston-super-Mare town hall by 4pm on January 6.

The election will be held on February 2 if there are any candidates.

Elections for the full parish council will take place in May.

Unlike previous elections, voters will now need to bring photo ID under new legislation brought in by the government.