Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) is proposing to reduce the number of Councillors on Barton-le-Clay Parish Council from 13 to 9. This will not save money, as all Councillors are unpaid volunteers.
Barton-le-Clay Parish Council believe this would significantly increase the burden on the volunteer Councillors, and we are asking for the support of residents to respond to CBC’s consultation before 26th January and to oppose this proposal. A link to the consultation can be found here.
Central Beds Council believe that reducing the number of Councillors would result in more candidates than roles and so force an election to be more democratic.
However, the Parish Council believe that reducing the number would reduce the capacity to manage the work of the Council, including its ability to scrutinise the work of CBC by responding to consultations and ensuring they deliver on their commitments to the Parish. It is already difficult to attract new Councillors, due to the expected commitment (meeting attendance, projects and events for the Village), and a reduction in number will result in a less diverse Council, less representation of residents, increased pressure on each Councillor, less scrutiny of decisions, thus being less democratic.
Barton-le-Clay is set to grow over the coming few years as a result of the new Taylor Wimpey Development planned on land East of the Village, off Higham Gobion Road. The Parish Council need to ensure it has enough Councillors to take on the challenges this will bring, on behalf of the Village.
