ELECTIONS 2023
Every four years, Parish Councils are required to hold an election for membership of the Council.
The Council is a constantly changing body of people; once elected, Parish Councillors can usually sit on the Council for a maximum of four years. If they then want to stay in the post they must stand for re-election. Residents are actively encouraged to apply to join the Parish Council, and it is always good to welcome new members. There are eight seats on the Council, so if more than eight people stand, there will be a ballot and the eight candidates with the most votes get elected.
A Parish Council is the local authority that makes decisions on behalf of the people in the Parish and makes representations on their behalf to other bodies (eg on planning matters). It is the level of government closest to the community, with Dacorum Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council above it. As it is the authority closest to the people, the Parish Council is invariably the first place people will go with concerns or ideas. For this reason, it is a vital part of any community.
Who can become a Parish Councillor?
Any resident of Nash Mills who:
has occupied as owner or tenant any land or other premises in the Parish area during the whole of the 12 months before the day of nomination and the day of election;
is at least 18 years old;
is a British citizen, an eligible Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of any other member state of the European Union (this hasn’t changed!).
Also, you’d need to meet at least one of the following four qualifications:
you are, and will continue to be, registered as a local government elector for the Parish in which you wish to stand from the day of your nomination onwards;
your main or only place of work during the 12 months prior to the day of your nomination and the day of election has been in the parish/community area;
you have lived in the Parish or within three miles of it during the whole of the 12 months before the day of your nomination and the day of election;
you have occupied as owner or tenant any land or other premises in the Parish during the whole of the 12 months before the day of your nomination and the day of election.
What do Parish Councils do?
Parish Councils make all kinds of decisions and make representations to other local and national bodies, on issues that affect the local community: from working on the Parish projects, liaising with the Police and other services, to commenting on planning applications and representing the Parish in meetings with assorted external bodies. We work with the County Council on traffic matters and the Borough Council to keep our shared spaces maintained and clear of litter. We actively engage with other local Parish Councils on matters that affect us all.
There are limited powers to make decisions, but Parish Councils do have the ability to negotiate with, and the power to influence, those other organisations that do make the final decisions.
The Good Councillors Guide is a really good introduction to the work of Parish Councils
And the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has also produced a booklet All About Parish Councils
For more information
For Election queries please contact the team at Dacorum Borough Council Electoral Services Team at er@dacorum.gov.uk
ELECTION 2023 PROCESS AND TIMINGS
Please note that the information below was circulated by Dacorum Borough Council
Prior to close of nominations
It is the Notice of Election that publicly starts the election process as this states the date of the poll and how to obtain a nomination paper. Also, key dates for registration and for arranging an absent vote are listed.
Please see key dates at the end of this document.
NMPC will be sent two notices – one for the parish and one for the borough council.
Nominations
Nomination papers can be obtained from the date of the Notice – the legal deadline for the Returning Officer to publish is 28 March, however we shall publish a week early and the election and purdah starts from this date (21/3). Nominations can be brought in from the day after the notice publication date.
Nomination papers and all other key documents will be on the Electoral Commission website to download. Hard copies can be provided on request. EVERYONE who wishes to seek election or re-election MUST complete and submit a nomination paper by the legal deadline. These are to be hand delivered to our Council Offices at The Forum, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1DN and handed to a member of the elections team. We shall be arranging an appointments system and informal checks in order to process the nomination papers.
As we are expecting several hundred nomination papers, we need your help to manage the process. You can help in this period by making sure all your sitting councillors who wish to stand again obtain their nomination pack ASAP and then submit their nomination paper as a priority in the tight legal timeframe. The team will check all papers whilst someone waits.
Anyone can bring the papers in, including yourself, however it is the candidate’s personal responsibility for their own nomination.
As we carry out an informal checking stage, any papers that are not correct and cannot be corrected at point of delivery, will need to be taken back and corrected and then re-submitted by the deadline.
Once we have received a valid nomination paper, and entered the candidates’ details on our system, we will generate and send out by post, a Validity Notice which is a legal requirement and acts as a double check.
It is MOST IMPORTANT that your parish achieve the number of councillors to be quorate and hence legally operate after 8 May. The Electoral Services team will keep a record on all parishes to see that they have had nominations in. It is not the responsibility of the Electoral Services Team to chase nomination papers, if an individual is wanting to stand, they must submit a valid nomination paper by the deadline.
Please ensure that you check your emails regularly during this busy period. Please be aware that if you do not achieve the required number of valid nominations, we must re-run the nomination process with a possible by-election straight after 4 May, so it is very important to achieve this number.
The nomination deadline is 4pm on Tuesday 4 April.
After close of nominations
The Returning Officer will contact you about whether you are contested or uncontested.
- Contested
If there are more candidates that seats, we shall have a contested election on 4 May. This will be a combined poll at the polling station (provided the borough ward is contested). All candidates in the contested parish will be contacted about the next step.
- Uncontested
If the parish is uncontested i.e. same number of candidates as the number of seats or less, candidates will be written to saying they have been elected unopposed and what the next step is. They do not take office until the fourth calendar day after the day of the poll (Monday 8 May).
The Returning Officer will publish the uncontested election notice on its website and send you these. Candidates elected unopposed will be written to directly.
Something that candidates uncontested often forget is that they MUST still submit an elections expenses return and declaration even though they probably incurred no expenditure. It is a legal requirement.
If an election is uncontested, i.e. there have been insufficient candidates to fill all of the available seats at an election, then councillors can be co-opted.
The Count
The Town and Parish election counts will take place on Friday 5 May. On the Thursday night, after close of poll, we shall be taking receipt of the station ballot boxes, finalising the postal votes and carrying out the verification of all ballot boxes (we will also be carrying out the Borough counts).
As soon as the results have been declared, they will be published via social media and on the council’s website.
Post declaration
Contact details of newly elected
You obviously need to know who has been elected as soon as possible to contact them. Please note that some candidates will have suppressed their address from appearing on official notices and on the ballot papers and it will just say “address within Dacorum”. We shall need to provide their address and contact details for any new councillors who have done this.
Declaration of Acceptance of Office
Newly elected or re-elected candidates must sign a declaration of acceptance of office form at or before the first meeting of your parish council.
We do not need to have a copy of this.
Declaration of Interests
All elected candidates (whether uncontested or by an election) must complete and return to a Declaration of interests’ forms.
Key election dates 2023
| Publication of Notice of Election | Tues 21/03/2023 (28/3) |
| Receipt of Nominations | 4:00 pm Tues 04/04/2023 |
| Withdrawal of Candidate deadline | 4:00 pm Tues 04/04/2023 |
| Appointment of Election Agents | 4:00 pm Tues 04/04/2023 |
| Publication of Notice of Election Agents | 4:00 pm Tues 04/04/2023 |
| Publication of Statements of Persons Nominated | 4:00 pm Wed 05/04/2023 |
| Registration deadline | Mon 17/04/2023 |
| Postal Vote Application deadline | 5:00 pm Tues 18/04/2023 |
| Publication of Notice of Poll | Tues 25/04/2023 |
| Proxy Vote Application deadline | 5:00 pm Tues 25/04/2023 |
| Deadline to receive Voter Authority Certificate (VAC) applications | 5:00 pm Tues 25/04/2023 |
| Appointment of Poll and Count Agents | Wed 26/04/2023 |
| Emergency Proxy Vote Application deadline | 5:00 pm 04/05/2023 |
| Deadline for production of temporary VAC | 5:00 pm 04/05/2023 |
| Day of Poll | 7:00 am to 10:00 pm 04/05/2023 |
| Return of Election Expenses – Parish | 01/06/2023 |
| Return of Election Expenses Borough | 09/06/2023 |
For any further information about Nash Mills Parish Council
Please contact the Nash Mills Parish Clerk, Nikki Bugden
email clerk@nashmillsparishcouncil.gov.uk
Information about the nomination and election process is available as a PDF