A casual vacancy on a parish or town council will usually arise if a councillor has:
- resigned
- passed away
- failed to attend any meetings for six consecutive months
- disqualification, taking up paid office for the authority they are elected for
- failure to accept office
Any resignations must be addressed to Chairperson of the Parish or Town Council. Resignations cannot be predated or cannot be withdrawn. If the person resigning is the Chairperson, then the resignation has to be given to the Parish Council.
Notice of vacancy procedure
When any vacancy occurs, the parish clerk should notify Electoral Services as soon as practicable. This should be by e-mail to elections@northyorks.gov.uk providing the following information:
- name of the councillor who has caused the vacancy
- reason for the vacancy
- parish (and ward of parish if relevant) that they represented
Electoral Services will then send a Notice of Vacancy to the parish clerk. The Parish or Town Council must then advertise this notice within the parish for 14 working days. The notice will also be published on the North Yorkshire Council website.
During that 14 working day period, electors can request an election. For an election to happen the proper officer must receive at least 10 requests from the electors from the electoral area (the parish or, for warded parishes, the ward of the parish) where the vacancy exists. Requests should include the electors name, address and sent to the Proper Officer of North Yorkshire using the address on the notice (requests for an election are public documents and are available for inspection).
If after the 14 working day period expires and an election has not been requested, Electoral Services will inform the Parish or Town Council to co-opt a qualified person onto the council to fill the vacancy.
If a casual vacancy on a Parish or Town Council occurs less than six months before the councillor's term of office was due to end, an election will not be held. However, the Parish or Town Council may fill the vacancy by co-opting a person who is duly qualified.