ELECTORAL CYCLE 1 SUMMARY 1.1 The purpose of this report is to enable the Council to consider whether or not to ask the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to change the electoral cycle of the Council from a system of elections by thirds, to a system of whole council elections every four years. 2 INTRODUCTION 2.1 By Section 7 (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Council can ask the Deputy Prime Minister to change the electoral cycle provided that a resolution to that effect is passed by not less than two thirds of the Members voting on the resolution at an extraordinary meeting of the Council convened for the purpose of considering the matter. 2.2 At its meeting of 6 July 2002, the Council resolved to accept the principle of a move to a 4 year electoral cycle from 2004, the election thereafter being in 2008 and to consult on the proposed change. 2.3 The Cabinet, at its meeting on 24 February 2004, gave consideration to the proposed consultation exercise and the results of the consultation exercise were considered by the Cabinet at its meeting of 27 October 200 3. The report to the Cabinet meeting on that date is appended to this report for information. 2.4 The Cabinet, at its meeting on 27 October 2003, was advised that the Electoral Commission had been asked by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to undertake work to consider the issue of Council electoral cycles and it was expected that the Commission would report to the Deputy Prime Minister by 29 January 2004. 2.5 The Cabinet, at its meeting on 27 October 2003, recommended to the Council to approve the 4 year option in principle, but any decision to convene a special Council meeting be deferred pending the outcome of the Electoral Commission's report to the Deputy Prime Minister because the outcome of the Commission's report would be a key consideration in the Council's consideration of whether to change its current elections cycle. The Council meeting on 4 November 2003 agreed this recommendation. 2.6 The Electoral Commission submitted its report and recommendations on 27 January 2004. 2.7 The recommendations of the Electoral Commission were as follows: (1) "The Commission recommends that the cycle of local and sub national government elections in England should follow a clear and consistent pattern, within and across local authorities. Individual authorities should not be permitted to "opt out" of this pattern, and any newly created authorities should also follow the same pattern. (2) The Commission recommends that each local authority in England should hold whole council elections, with all councillors elected simultaneously, every four years. (3) The Commission recommends that all local government electors in England should elect members of their district, metropolitan borough, London borough or unitary council simultaneously once every four years. Two years later, in the mid point of the electoral cycle, electors in areas with county councils, city wide authorities or any future sub national government should elect representatives to those bodies." 2.8 Recent enquires with the Electoral Commission indicate that the Government has not responded in any way to the Electoral Commission's report of 27 January 2004 and it is not known when and how the Government will take this project forward. 3 RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS 3.1 By moving to whole council elections, there would be savings in the cost of running elections compared to the current arrangements. This arises because there are now more multi-member wards. 4 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS 4.1 For the Council to request the Deputy Prime Minister to change the Council's electoral cycle, it is necessary for two thirds of the members present and voting on the resolution at the meeting on 3 November 2004 to vote in favour of the change. Abstention does not count as voting therefore, if 45 members attend, 42 vote and 3 abstain from voting, the vote in favour needs to be 28. If 45 vote and none abstain, the vote in favour needs to be 30. If 45 attend, 30 abstain and 10 vote for, 5 against, the motion would be carried. 5 RECOMMENDATION 5.1. The Council is RECOMMENDED to consider whether or not to request the Deputy Prime Minister to provide for a system of whole council elections. Liz Ashness Head of Corporate Services and Monitoring Officer Background Papers The Electoral Commission's Circular EC05/2004 For further information on this report call Liz Ashness on (01603) 430546 or e-mail liz.ashness@broadland.gov.uk Council 3 November 2004