UNDER the Localism Bill, now making its way through Parliament, the Coalition hopes to devolve power from central government to local government, including parish councils. One problem with this is that in many areas there is a lack of local people prepared to offer themselves as councillors.

An interesting situation has arisen in the parish of St Briavels. There are seats for nine members, but only six people stood, so there was no election in May and all six were automatically appointed, leaving three vacancies. There is a convention that the signature of the new councillor, agreeing to serve, is obtained at the first meeting of the new Council. Of the six in St Briavels, five were available to sign and did so, but the sixth, a local farmer, advised the meeting that he had to attend the calving of one of his cows but would come along later, if possible. This he attempted to do, but when he arrived in St Briavels, his wife contacted him by phone in his car and explained that another cow was calving unexpectedly, that she had recalled the vet and the farmer was required back at the farm. He went quickly into the meeting to explain the situation but was unable to catch the chairman's attention, so he walked out and drove home.

The following day he telephoned the clerk and left a message, asking him to send on the relevant form for signature. The clerk did not respond for two days but then informed the farmer that he was no longer a councillor as he had failed to sign the form. This poses interesting questions. Would the same rule have applied if the farmer had been in hospital undergoing surgery, if he had been involved in an accident on his way to the meeting, or in the case of a woman, if she had given birth that day? This appears to be bureaucratic nonsense and if it is a legal requirement that the form can only be signed on a particular day then, as others before me have noted, the law is an ass and should be changed forthwith. Signing an agreement to become a parish councillor is, in the scheme of things, a trivial matter and not something that will change the course of history. Extenuating circumstances should surely be taken into consideration and this would be the view of a sensible chairman and clerk because, In a rural area, where farmer councillors are the norm, there will always be farming emergencies. 

The result of this is that in St Briavels there are now four vacancies instead of three and the parish has lost the services of a hard-working councillor through the over-zealous implementation of a legalistic rule. If Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles thinks that local people are going to be queueing up to become parish councillors and take on more and more responsibilities when such pointless bureaucratic hurdles are placed in their way, he has another think coming.

– Daphne Pearson (Dr), 27 Tinman's Green, Redbrook.