Whitworth residents will vote in Rossendale Council elections every four years, starting this May

Rossendale Council elections will be held just once every four years, with all seats in every ward contested, councillors have decided.

The change will start this May, but will be monitored and can be reviewed. Supporters say change will boost long-term stability, understanding and confidence; also ease public confusion about elections and save money.

However, others say the current phased system is more-responsive to public opinion year-to-year and can handle unexpected events such as by-elections. The move will end to the current phased cycle when one-third of council seats are contested over three-out-of-four years, and it represents a U-turn by some councillors who previously voted to keep the current system.

The change was backed at the latest full Rossendale Council meeting.

It came after updated information and consultations this year. In total, 155 people responded. Of them, 52 per cent backed a move to whole-council elections and just under 44 per cent preferred the existing system. The remainder had no preference.

Labour Councillor Adrian Lythgoe put forward the recommendations for change.

He said: “We’re looking to move to whole-council elections from May. Following that, we would make differences to Whitworth Town Council and change the council constitution.

“Public consultation was held on this previously but it did not really capture public interest. My personal reason to support change is that it will provide long-term planning, stability and decision-making rather than getting bogged-down in elections and sometimes petty opposition arguments. And an election every four years would be a greater event and expand public interest.”

However, Green Party Councillor Julie Adshead disagreed. She said: “In Rossendale, we usually vote once a year. A lot can happen in four years. An annual election means the public can hold the council to account. It makes sure the council listens to the public and can send messages to Westminster.

“Reasons such as ‘election fatigue’, low voter turn-out and election costs are given for moving to four-year elections. Of course, a long-term view should be taken and it’s incumbent for councillors to work together for the best outcome. I don’t think these are issues here.

“I believe it would fail the public if we moved to elections every four years. These recommendations for four-year elections stem from arguments 20 years ago, which were not taken-up by the government.”

Regarding costs, she added: “I understand the desire to save money and the current financial situation. But I firmly believe democracy should never be compromised for financial reasons. My primary argument is to maintain the democratic process. We are losing it in many ways.”

Conservative Councillor Alan Woods said: “It was only 18 months ago since we last debated this. Then, some Labour councillors spoke against it and for keeping phased elections. Why the change now?

He added: “Councillor Lythgoe raised key points about low public engagement in the survey, which cannot be deemed to be conclusive.

“We have a long-term council plan. I’m not sure political infighting hampers it. I don’t see that elections influence it. I still support moving to a four-year cycle for the reasons we said 18 months ago.”

 

 

Community First Coun Alan Neal said: “We did not have some of this information 18 months ago and the greater rationale for this. I didn’t support this 18 months ago but I will now.

“To me, it does not matter whether we have elections once a year or every four years. The biggest problem is having people [officials or staff] sitting in polling stations for 17 hours on election days. It seems silly.

“Everybody now has a National Insurance number. There must be a way – and there is a way – for people to vote by entering a secure number. I have never seen the sense of the current polling station system.

“Back in 2002, we did go for all-out elections. But then we went back to annual elections. It didn’t make much sense.

“Today, we have the technology. We need to use it. I want everyone to have the vote – and everyone to have the opportunity to vote.”

Labour’s Andy MacNae supported moving to four-year elections.

But he added: “This debate must be about what’s best for residents. Also I believe many arguments about election confusion and interruptions would become redundant if we moved away from the two-tier borough and county council system. The best thing we could have is a single-tier unitary authority.”

Labour’s Patrick Marriott queried some arguments for change and said the council needed to be aware of the impact of having fewer councillors in future.

He said: “We’ve had stable Labour control for 13 years, so the thirds system maintains stability. But with the fall to 30 councillors, there could be more by-elections to maintain political control?

“We’ve lost a few councillors recently and could have had four by-elections this year. So there could be uncertainty with by-elections in future. One-third elections provide stability and you know how much things will cost, which is valuable in itself.”

Robbie Macdonald, Local Democracy Reporting Service