Meltham Town Council is the first tier of local government, serving the communities of Wilshaw, Helme and Meltham. The Town Council is made up of 12 Councillors and generally meets every six weeks. At its annual meeting in May each year it elects the Town Mayor and appoints Councillors to serve on committees for the year ahead. Councillors don’t receive any remuneration for their work but Meltham Town Council is very active and there is always lots of interest going on. More information about what the Council does is available on its website – www.melthamtowncouncil.gov.uk
To find out more about the role of a local councillor, what’s involved and the skills you might need, the National Association of Local Council’s (www.nalc.gov.uk) is a great place to start. If you’ve the right skills and experience, then Meltham Town Council wants to hear from you.
The Town Council can consider any person to fill the vacancy provided that the candidate meets one or more ‘qualifying criteria’. A full list of the criteria is available on the Council’s website (notices section) but if you are a registered elector in the Town Council area, have resided in the Town for the past twelve months or more, work in Meltham or live within 3 miles of the Town Council area you are likely to be eligible. There are also certain things which disqualify a person from being a Councillor such as working for Meltham Town Council or bankruptcy, but again full details are on the Council’s website.
So you are interested – what next?
You’ll need to:
- Prepare a short statement explaining the reasons you want to become a Town Councillor.
- Complete the legal declaration of qualification to hold public office as a local councillor which is available to download from the Council’s website (in the Notices section).
- Return both your statement and declaration to the Clerk no later than the 22 April 2022.
- townclerk@melthamtowncouncil.gov.uk
At a Council meeting the Councillors will look at all the applications and decide who to co-opt to fill the vacancy (provided there is a suitable candidate). Candidates will be sent an invitation to attend and at the meeting candidates will have five minutes to introduce themselves and discuss their application. All candidates will be asked to leave the room whilst the Councillors discuss the merits of each application and vote to decide who will be co-opted.
After the votes have been concluded, the Mayor will declare who has been successful and after signing a declaration of acceptance of office, the new Councillor can take their seat immediately.
