Cannock Chase council asks for spring elections to be delayed
A second Staffordshire council has asked for its spring elections to be delayed.
Cannock Chase District Council has joined Tamworth Borough Council in requesting for the scheduled local elections in May to be postponed because of local government reorganisation (LGR).
All ten councils in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent are due to be abolished and replaced with new unitary authorities in 2028. In December the government said it would consider postponing elections at councils undergoing LGR, where authority raise concerns over ‘capacity issues’.
Critics say the move is undemocratic and have accused the government of avoiding accountability. Councils were given until January 15 to tell the government whether they wanted to postpone their elections.
A third of the 36 seats on Cannock Chase District Council were due to be contested on May 7. Council leader Steve Thornley has now formally requested that local government minister Alison McGovern postpone these elections.
Both Cannock Chase and Tamworth councils are currently controlled by Labour. Conservative-run Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has said that its all-out elections will go ahead as planned.
