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Referendums by Parish Councils or Parishioners
Last post 03-09-2007 11:54 AM by kcooper. 0 replies.
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03-09-2007 11:54 AM
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kcooper
  - Joined on 27-07-2007
- Posts 20
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Referendums by Parish Councils or Parishioners
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Hi, Given the news that a Parish Council is holding a referendum in their area, I thought I would post a bit covering local referendums. What do others think about this and are you having any in your areas. Indeed what would you hold a referendum on? The Local Government Act 2000 allows Parish Councils to force District Council to hold a referendum in their area to collect the opinion of local residents. In fact local residents have the same rights under the act even if their local Parish Council will not support the action. However there are some rules: -
- The issues must be raised at a Parish Meeting. This can be with the Parish Council or if in the case of the Parish Council not supporting the motion, the meeting can be convened in the following way
- You must call a publish parish meeting in writing and the document must be signed by 6 people on the voting register for you Parish Area.
- Your meeting must be publicised 7 working days in advance on the Parish Notice board or other prominent place.
- Your notice should contain: -
i. The names of the 6 people ii. The venue of the meeting iii. The date and time of the meeting
- If your Parish Council is not part of your campaign then you should notify the Parish Council and the Chairman of the District Council of what you are doing. Tell them that you are acting under Part 3, schedule 12, paragraph 18, subparagraphs 4 and 5 of the Local Government Act 1972. You may well find that if your chosen issue arouses strong feelings locally, the Parish Council will come on board to help with the organisation of the meeting.
- For the meting to be valid you will need at least 10 voters present. This can include the Parish Council.
- You will need to propose a motion calling for a referendum (Parish Poll) on your chosen question or questions. If one third of those voters present, or ten of those present, whichever figure is smaller, call for a referendum, then your District Council is obliged by law to hold one. Note this means that it is actually possible to loose a vote at the meeting, but still satisfy the requirements for calling a referendum.
- Tell you District Council of the outcome of your meeting and quote the relevant legislation again and in point 2.
- The District Council now have 14 to 25 days to hold the referendum. You will be informed of the date
This process is the same for a Parish Council wishing to hold a referendum. Once you have been through the above is will be necessary to publicise you referendum as much as possible. In order to get the outcome you desire, canvassing support will be essential. Once you have the result publicise that as well, actually I’m sure all of your local papers will carry the story but you may find the nationals are interested especially if the subject matter is of national importance.
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