The Returning Officer has received a notification from Marlow Town Council confirming that a parish meeting was held on 8 April 2024. At the meeting Polls were called for and the wording of the questions for the poll agreed by more than a third of the electorate that were present in the room each time.
The Returning Officer has therefore reviewed the information provided, including the questions requested for polling, and has concluded that two of those questions satisfy the legal criteria for proceeding to a poll as set out in Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act 1972 and case law. However, a number of the questions do not fulfil the required criteria, and therefore will not proceed to a poll. An explanation of this decision, and the next steps for this matter, are set out below.
Requirements for a poll to proceed
Parish poll questions must be clear, unambiguous, and capable of producing a “yes” or “no” response only. The questions should relate to a parish affair. Additionally, case law has established that the Returning Officer may not grant a poll where its purpose is devoid of practical application.
The following two questions fulfil this criteria and will therefore proceed to a poll.
1. “Do you wish Marlow Film Studios to be built?”
Proposer, Karen Adkins, 5 Willowmead Gardens SL7 1HW
2. “Do you want development in the greenbelt on the scale proposed by the Marlow Film Studio?”
Proposer Peter Gregory, 5 Victoria Gardens, Marlow, Bucks SL7 1GP
The following questions (numbering added for ease of reference) will not proceed to poll and the reasons for this are set out below:
3) “Do you think that the following Councillors should resign Cllr Stapley, Cllr Scott, Cllr Funnell?”
As a ‘poll question’ this is devoid of practical application, and therefore does not meet the required criteria. This is because neither the parish council nor the parish meeting can make the outcome of the proposed question happen. A resignation is the personal choice of a Councillor. A Councillor resigns by handing a notice to the Chairman of their Council. It is not within the power of a parish council or parish meeting to request a Councillor resignation. The question as worded is not the same, for example, as a request for a vote of no confidence by the Town Council.
However, the resolution of the parish meeting can be passed on to the Town Council or to the three Councillors as an expression of opinion from that body.
4) Facts obtained by FOI show that Cllr Scott has not acted with integrity, accountability and openness and therefore should resign, do you agree?
5) Facts obtained by FOI show that Cllr Stapley has not acted with integrity, accountability and openness and therefore should resign do you agree?
6) Facts obtained by FOI show that Cllr Funnell has not acted with integrity, accountability and openness and therefore should resign do you agree?
Similarly, the three questions above are also devoid of practical application, and therefore do not meet the required criteria. The Town Council can’t conclude that the Councillors have failed to meet these Code of Conduct requirements; only Buckinghamshire Council can do that through the complaints process; and those councillors have not been found in breach of the Code. The questions are not a fact, nor something the Town Council can determine.
