27 November 2022
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I said in my last blog that I would come back to the issue of the co-options made at Hughenden Parish Council’s meeting on 8 November.
Let me say at the beginning that the proceedings on this item were confusing and I was confused.
Three people applied to be co-opted. However, none of them had been asked when applying which ward they wished to represent.
Two of the applicants came to the meeting and, when asked, said they both wished to apply for the one vacancy in the Naphill and Walters’ Ash ward.
In this situation, the law requires councillors to vote for their preferred candidate and the one that gets the most votes is appointed.
This didn’t happen.
Let’s just assume I went to sleep at this point. When I woke up, one of the two candidates had applied for another ward – I thought at the time for Great Kingshill.
So, in this situation, where there is one candidate for each vacancy, the law says that the candidate shall be appointed.
But this didn’t happen either.
Instead, councillors were asked to vote for the candidates anyway. Oddly, councillors were not asked if they wished to vote against the candidates or abstain, only if they wished to vote in favour of the candidates.
We then turned to the third candidate who was not able to attend the meeting. He too had not been asked, when he applied, to specify which ward he wished to represent. However, councillors were told at the meeting that he had applied for the vacancy in Great Kingshill.
I asked for the application to be discussed but the Chair refused my request. All I could do was ask where the candidate lived and express my surprise that he lived in Downley.
Once again, councillors were asked to vote for the candidate but were not asked if they wished to vote against or abstain.
In case you’re wondering, I didn’t vote as I didn’t think a vote should have taken place.
I found out the next day that the second candidate had not applied for the vacancy in Great Kingshill but for one of the two vacancies in Hughenden Valley. I did say I was confused.
The serious point is that I remain concerned about the legality and/or soundness of the appointment of the first two candidates.
Council met again on 18 November and another candidate applied for co-option and was appointed.
So HPC has four new councillors – Marc Byrom and Seb Berry representing Hughenden Valley, Usha Prashar representing Naphill and Walters Ash, and Jaye Hawkins representing Great Kingshill.
There are now only two vacancies on the Council – both in Widmer End.
Most of the rest of the meeting on 18 November dealt with HPC’s grounds maintenance contracts and budgeting.
On the contracts, Council agreed to take up the offer from Bucks Council for extending the contract HPC has with BC for another year for cutting grass on the verges. Currently, HPC does considerably more than required by that contract and pays for this extra (about £19,000) from HPC’s budget. Council has yet to decide if it will continue to cut the grass so often.
Council also decided to reduce its five maintenance contracts to three when it goes out to re-tender.
If you are interested, there is a good paper in the bundle of papers for the meeting prepared by Mike Deegan, the consultant helping with this work, setting out an assessment of HPC’s land holdings with suggestions on how to manage them (24.11.22-Agenda-and-Bundle.pdf (hughenden-pc.gov.uk at Appendix E).
Did you know that HPC owns or manages 19 sites in the parish?
Council also agreed to take on a warden to help with managing its estate.
On budgeting, Council rejected two road transport projects for Cockpit Road but agreed to make provision for spend for a third.
Council had a discussion about expenditure on playgrounds. Hughenden Valley ward councillors proposed considerable HPC expenditure on the Hughenden Valley playground (see Appendix H if you are interested).
The Council will be looking at quotes for tree works across the parish and will see how much of the work can start as soon as possible. It also instructed the Clerk to get quotes for automatic gates for the Garden of Rest.
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