Fears for local democracy as parish councils may be charged for elections, by Local Democracy Reporter Jude Holden/ additional reporting by Melksham News

WILTSHIRE Council plan to make parish councils pay for holding elections from May 2025.

Some councillors fear the small parish authorities will avoid holding elections because of costs, which Wiltshire Council currently cover. They say it will have an impact on local democracy.

Parish councillors serve four-year terms, but there can be more elections over contested issues and if a seat becomes vacant, a by-election is triggered.

At a Wiltshire Council cabinet meeting, held on 31st January, Melksham councillor, Jon Hubbard, argued against the proposal.

He said, “The issue with full elections is these costs, particularly in smaller parishes, can act as a barrier to democracy.

“For some small parishes, the election costs might be higher than what their precept would raise, then there is a disincentive within that community for people to stick their heads above the parapet and say, ‘let’s actually have an election here for once, rather than just continually see the same people return unopposed year after year’. Do we want this?

“How much is this predicted to raise the council? And do we truly believe that is worth the impact on the democratic process? Most reasonable people would agree that the spectre of a large cost for elections is one that makes people think ‘do we really want to do this?’”

Leader of Wiltshire Council, cllr Richard Clewer, said the income expected would be £400,000 for an election, which would mean a saving of £100,000 a year. He said, “I have some sympathy, but not entirely. Our towns are often Party political and often have contested elections.

“I don’t see why the collective people of Wiltshire should be funding that, when it’s being done for the town council. £1.70 per elector

“The indicative costs for a contested election we think would be about £1.70 per elector, so we’re not talking vast amounts of money for a contested election inside a small parish.”

In response to the proposal, clerk of Melksham Without Parish Council, Teresa Strange said, “We have been sent the indicative cost of £1.70 per elector and we would like to understand more detail about this.”

Emma Roberts, chair of Atworth Parish Council said, “Charging policies have been discussed for a year or two now. We’ve yet to receive a definitive communication from Wiltshire Council in relation to their decision in order to comment. However, clearly additional costs to small parish councils’ budgets mean less available to use for other projects, at a time when all budgets are squeezed.”

The plans are part of the budget which will be debated and approved on Tuesday 21st February.