Agenda item

Considered-

The report of the Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Democratic Services informing the Committee of the situation of Irton Parish Council seeking approval to invoke the power to temporarily appoint a named person to sit on the Parish Council.

In order for a town and parish council to operate, they need to be quorate. There are occasions where, due to resignations or a lack of nominations for vacancies at elections, a town or parish council is not able to operate for this reason.

Section 91 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972 provides that the principal authority (North Yorkshire Council) can make an order to appoint to a town or parish council until such time as the vacancies on the Parish Council have been filled by either election or co-option.

Irton Parish Council comprises of 5 seats and requires a minimum of 3 seats to be filled to be considered quorate. Following Councillor Elbourne’s resignation on 16 May 2024, the casual vacancy procedures were followed which recognise that when a casual vacancy occurs at a parish council, a request for an election must be made within 14 working days of the publication of a notice of vacancy by 10 electors from within the parish area. No request for an election was made by 10 electors within the required timeframe. The Parish Council can proceed to fill the vacant seats via co-option but as there are only 2 remaining councillors the Parish Council is not quorate and therefore cannot make the decision to co-opt.

As the Parish Council is now no longer quorate, the council cannot meet or conduct any business. The only option left is to invoke the power to make an appointment so that business can continue. Once appointed, the Parish Council will be quorate, and the vacant seats can be filled via co-option.

Once the vacant seats have been filled, any appointee can then resign from the Parish Council if they wish to do so.

Resolved-

i)               That the Council appoints the division member for Derwent valley and Moor, Councillor David Jeffels under Section 91 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972 to Irton Parish Council in order to make it quorate, unless or until either sufficient vacancies on Irton Parish Council have been filled by way of co-option or election so that the Parish Council is able to act lawfully, or the Order made under Section 91 (1) is revoked.

ii)              ii) That the Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Democratic Services be authorised to make the required Order as attached at Appendix A.

This was approved unanimously.

The Chair agreed to take item 18, urgent business, next as it related to a further temporary appointment.

Item 18 Urgent Business – Temporary Appointment to Welburn Parish Council.

Considered-

The report of the Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Democratic Services informing the Committee of the situation of Welburn Parish Council seeking approval to delegate the authority to the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) to invoke the power to temporarily appoint 2 persons to sit on the Parish Council.

In order for a town and parish council to operate, they need to be quorate. There are occasions where, due to resignations or a lack of nominations for vacancies at elections, a town or parish council is not able to operate for this reason.

Section 91 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972 provides that the principal authority (North Yorkshire Council) can make an order to appoint to a town or parish council until such time as the vacancies on the Parish Council have been filled by either election or co-option.

Welburn Parish Council comprises of 6 seats and requires a minimum of 3 seats to be filled to be considered quorate. The Standards and Governance Committee received a report at its meeting on 17 January 2024 explaining that at that time there was only one member on the Parish Council and it therefore could not meet as it was inquorate.

The Committee therefore appointed the division member for Sheriff Hutton and Derwent, Councillor Goodrick, and a member of the public under Section 91 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972 to Welburn Parish Council in order to make it quorate, until either sufficient vacancies on Welburn Parish Council had been filled by way of co-option or election so that the Parish Council was able to act lawfully.

Since the January meeting Parish Councillor Carey has resigned and the member of the public has not taken up office. There was no request for an election following the notice of vacancy being issued in March this year. The position therefore remains that the Parish Council is not quorate, the council cannot meet or conduct any business with now only one councillor being in place, being Cllr Goodrick following the Committee’s decision in January this year.

As a smaller authority the Parish Council must submit an Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) form by the end of June each year. The Parish Council has however been unable to meet and approve the submission of its AGAR. Parish Councils are required to return a copy to the external auditor no later than 30 June 2024 and publish on the authority website/webpage a copy of the required declaration and Certificate of Exemption before 1 July 2024. This is a requirement required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 and the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities.

The remaining Parish Councillor contacted the Parish Council’s auditor in May this year and explained that the Parish Council was inquorate. The Parish Council’s auditors explained that they would in normal circumstances be required to issue a statutory recommendation to the Parish Council as a smaller authority that it has failed to meet statutory requirements by approving, publishing and submitting an AGAR (or certificate of exemption where appropriate). However, the auditors explained that with an authority that is inquorate and unable to function it does not issue a report as there is no functioning council to action such a recommendation. In this instance, the auditor explained that it would put the process “on hold” until the Parish resumes functioning.

Furthermore the auditor agreed to extend the submission deadline to the latest date its system allows being 31 July 2024. The Committee is therefore asked to take the opportunity to re affirm the temporary appointment of Councillor Caroline Goodrick and to delegate authority to the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) to appoint two North Yorkshire Councillors onto the Parish Council as soon as possible to enable it to be quorate, convene a meeting and approve, submit and publish its AGAR. Once appointed, the Parish Council will be quorate, and the vacant seats can be filled via co-option. Once the vacant seats have been filled, any appointee can then resign from the Parish Council if they wish to do so.

The Monitoring Officer also noted the need to amend the reference to “North Yorkshire Council” to “The North Yorkshire Council” in the Order attached at Appendix A.

Resolved-

i)               That the Council re affirm the temporary appointment of Councillor Caroline Goodrick to Welburn Prish Council and delegates authority to the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) to appoint 2 Members under Section 91 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972 to Welburn Parish Council in order to make it quorate, unless or until either sufficient vacancies on Welburn Parish Council have been filled by way of co-option or election so that the Parish Council is able to act lawfully, or the Order made under Section 91 (1) is revoked.

ii)              ii) That the Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Democratic Services be authorised to make the required order as attached at Appendix A, after amending the reference to “North Yorkshire Council” to “The North Yorkshire Council” in the Order.

This was approved unanimously.

There was Committee support for the power to make temporary appointments to Parish and Town Councils to be permanently delegated to the Monitoring Officer in order to speed the process up with reports back to each ordinary meeting of the Standards and Governance Committee on the number of temporary appointments made and to which parish/town councils; the Monitoring Officer could choose not to exercise his delegation in a particular case and refer the matter to the Committee.

A report to the Standards and Governance Committee and the Constitution Working Group to endorse that recommendation. The Committee requested that a report be brought to the next ordinary meeting of the Committee setting out the options in this regard.