A PROPOSAL to take the financial sting out of holding by-elections for the Forest’s smallest councils has been branded “fundamentally unfair”.

Among the proposals from the Forest of Dean District Council’s Cabinet for inclusion in this year’s budget is one that would do away with the requirement for parish councils that ask Council Tax payers for less than £100,000 a year to put aside cash for by-elections.

The thinking is that small councils could be put off holding by-elections because of the cost, said district council leader Cllr Patrick Molyneux (Con, Woolaston and Hewelsfield).

“We wanted to make sure the democracy was there for the small councils,” he told the council’s overview and strategic committee.

He added: “The smaller councils generally have a smaller population so proportionately the residents would be paying more for a by-election.”

But Cllr Bruce Hogan (Lab, Lydbrook and Ruardean) – who also sits on a parish council which would benefit from the proposal – said the district council should pick up the bill for by-elections in all 41 parishes or none at all.

He said: “I can’t help but think that it is vastly unfair on the larger town and parish councils such as West Dean which already levy a higher Council Tax on their Council Tax payers.

“You only have to look at the Council Tax paid on either side of the A4136 – if you are in Steam Mills, which is part of Cinderford Town Council, or across the road in Drybrook your annual Council Tax bill is different by a considerable sum.”

In the current financial year, the parish council element of Council Tax bills for an average Band D property is £83.88 in Cinderford, compared with £29.17 for Drybrook.

Cllr Hogan added: “You are asking people who are paying the larger Council Tax – because they are part of a larger parish – to meet the costs of their by-elections yet the smaller parishes, which tend to set a small precept get away with it.

“I think it is fundamentally unfair – if you are going to do it for the small parishes, you do it for everyone.”

There have been seven contested by-elections in the last three years but only two – at Newnham and Longhope – have been for smaller councils.

Cllr Richard Boyles (Con, Westbury and Newnham), the Cabinet member for finance, said: “The idea was to free up the parishes’ reserves that were being held for elections to allow them to use that money elsewhere or not to precept for it if it were not necessary.”