Stand for PC election pleas

Over recent weeks, AudlemOnline has received a number of requests that the website urges local residents to stand as candidates for the Parish Council in the up-coming elections on 7th May.

At this month's Audlem Parish Council meeting, during the Public Forum, ex-councillor Bill Consterdine, who was a parish councillor for over thirty years, urged the parish council to ensure details of how to stand for election are published widely.

He added that he believed only three of the current parish councillors had been voted on to the council by the public and said it was an awfully long time since there had been an election.

An election is only called if more than twelve nominations are received. The parish council has now sent AudlemOnline the details of how to apply and these have been published over the past two days are are repeated at the end of this news story.

Local resident Allan Brown says: "Although the media focuses on national politics, elections at a local level are the foundation of democracy, local people elected to represent the interests of their local communities.

He added: "As a vibrant village, Audlem needs a parish council that reflects its needs and residents. It is imperative more local people get involved and make a real difference.

"The time you would need to commit is not onerous and the work is very rewarding. Opportunities to become a parish councillor are infrequent, so now is the time to put your name forward."

Other ex-councillors have spoken to AudlemOnline's team in recent days and urged a campaign to have a full election this time in May.

How to stand

This is the information sent to AudlemOnline by Kirstin Dixon, clerk to Audlem Parish Council:

On 7th May, Parliamentary, Borough Council and Town & Parish Council elections will be held.

Are you interested in being a candidate for Audlem Parish Council?

If you are, you can get in touch with the Parish Clerk or the Elections Team at Cheshire East for further information and for a nomination pack.

The pack contains all the information that you need including the criteria for eligibility to stand and guidance on completing the nomination papers.

Nomination papers, which must be completed in order for a candidate to stand for election, must be hand-delivered to:
The Returning Officer,
Elections Team,
Ground Floor,
Westfields,
Middlewich Road,
Sandbach,
Cheshire CW11 1HZ.

They can be hand delivered on any day after Friday 20th March but not later than 4.00 p.m. on Thursday 9th April 2015.

If you have difficulty in hand- delivering your nomination papers to Sandbach, Cheshire East have arranged that the Parish Clerk can submit them on behalf of candidates but her appointment to attend will be before March 31st so please contact her as soon as possible if you wish to utilise this service.

In order to complete the nomination papers, you will need your elector number and those of your nominators; these can be supplied by your Parish Clerk or the Elections Team at Cheshire East.

Audlem Parish Clerk – Kirstin Dixon – 01630 658456 (generally available between 8.00am and 6.30pm) or via email on audlemparishclerk@gmail.com
Elections Team – 01270 685922 – or via email on electoral.information@cheshireeast.gov.uk

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