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Wiltshire Council Reject Town Poll on Library and Youth Centre

Published on Friday 15th April 2011 by Jon Hubbard

Melksham Town Council today confirmed that Wiltshire Council have rejected the recent request by local residents for a Town Poll on the proposals for closing the town centre Library and Youth Centre and relocating it to Woolmore Farm.

Wiltshire Council have said that the poll cannot proceed because a majority of people present at the meeting in the Town Hall did not vote in favour of the poll, despite the fact that nearly every single local resident who attended the meeting was a signatory on the request.

Melksham South Councillor Jon Hubbard has blasted Wiltshire Council’s decision calling it “a desperate act by a desperate council who are in a state of denial about how the people of Melksham feel”.

“It’s time the council faced the facts about how unpopular their proposals really are and agreed to sit down and find a viable alternative solution” the Town and Wiltshire Councillor said.

The decision to reject the poll, outlined in an email from the County Solicitor to the Town Council (copied below) claims that the poll could proceed if a new Town Meeting was called, but then includes a veiled threat that any new application could also be rejected as the final decision on the closing of the Library and Youth Centre will be made by Wiltshire Council not Melksham Town Council.

“The Conservative administration are just plain scared of hearing what the people of Melksham really think about their proposals to close our popular Town Centre library,” Cllr Jon Hubbard commented. “This shows how little regard they really have for democracy and listening to people

“The right of local residents to call a Poll about issues affecting their local communities is one of the cornerstones of our democracy, and the Conservatives in County Hall are dismissing this right on a pure technicality in order to try and silence opposing opinion.

“I have today written to the Mayor of Melksham to ask for a special Town Meeting so that this item can be discussed and so that local residents can submit a new request for a Poll.

“I truly hope that this time Wiltshire Council have the good sense to allow the Poll to take place”.

Email from County Solicitor to Melksham Town Council

Further to our telephone conversation of Wednesday, 13 April, I am writing to confirm that the Returning Officer is unable to proceed with the demand for a poll on the question concerning the proposed Melksham Campus as the necessary statutory requirements have not been met. 

Paragraph 18 (2) of  Schedule 12 to the Local Government Act 1972 provides that ‘ a question to be decided by a parish meeting shall, in the first instance, be decided by the majority of those present at the meeting and voting thereon’.

Paragraph 18 (4) provides that ‘ a poll may be demanded before the conclusion of a parish meeting on any question arising at the meeting ....’

The Court of Appeal in the case of Bennett v Chappell [1965] ruled that a poll may only be demanded on a question which has been the subject of a vote at a parish meeting.

I understand that the question that is set out in the demand for a poll was not voted upon at the town meeting on 5 April.  In these circumstances the demand for a poll is not lawfully made and the Returning Officer cannot execute it.

I attach an extract of the relevant provisions of Schedule 12 for your assistance and a copy of the law report on Bennett v Chappell.

As discussed, it is possible for the matter to be rectified by calling a further parish meeting to consider and vote on the question in accordance with paragraph 15 of Schedule 12.

Whilst writing I should also draw attention, again, to the decision of Bennet v Chappell, which also decided that a poll should not be devoid of practical application so far as the Town or Parish Council is concerned.  In that case the Court of Appeal ruled that the poll would have no practical effect as the Parish Council no longer owned the land to which the question related and was not, therefore, in a position to act on the outcome of the poll.  In relation to the proposed question here, the operative decision rests with Wiltshire Council, though the Town Council clearly has an interest in the outcome.  I am not making any judgment on this issue at this stage on behalf of the Returning Officer, but just flagging this up so that the Town Council’s function and purpose in relation to the question is considered and made fully clear. 

One final point to note is that the question must be framed so as to ensure that it can be voted for either ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

I will await hearing from you further as appropriate. 

Kind regards.

Ian Gibbons
Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer
On behalf of the Returning Officer