Cornwall Council require receipt of ten signatures of local people in order to fill the vacancy by means of election. Eligible signatories are anyone residing in the ward (Mount Hawke) and that are on the electoral roll. There are no other qualifying criteria. These signatories can be members of the Parish Council or Cornwall Council, for example. Their deadline is 30th October. If the deadline passes without Cornwall Council receiving 10 signatures, the opportunity to fill the vacancy by means of election will have passed and will not return for that vacancy.

It is important that the Parish Council maintains a high proportion of elected Councillors (as opposed to co-opted). This affords it greater authority in terms of democratic accountability, and contributes towards the criteria for the Council being eligible to use the “General Power of Competence”. This power is required by a Parish Council that wishes to, for example, take on library services.

Full details of official notice – see link below:

Notice of Vacancy October 2017