News

Want to be a Councillor?

Have you got what it takes to be a Town Councillor?

  • Do you want to serve our community?  
  • Do you have time or expertise which could benefit our community?  
  • Do you want to make a difference to all those around you?
  • Are you concerned about our local area?
  • Do you want to represent the views of local people?

If you would like to make a difference, and be involved in shaping the future of our local community, why not step forward and apply to become a Desborough Town Councillor?

The Council has a vacancy for a Councillor (Loatland Ward) and is looking for people to put themselves forward.  There is a short form to fill in and send to the Town Clerk.  The form is on the website here, and is available from the Council’s office in the library building.

The closing date for the receipt of signed forms by the Town Clerk is 5 o’clock on 3 April 2019.

Meetings of the Council are held in the Library on the third Thursday of each month at 7 o’clock, except August when there’s no meeting and December when the meeting is a week earlier.

To qualify to be co-opted you must:-

  • be a British subject over 18 years old
  • be listed on the current electoral register
  • live in Desborough, or within 3 miles of its boundary, or occupy as owner/tenant any land/premises therein or have a principal place of work within the Parish
  • not be disqualified from holding office as a Councillor.

If you are interested, would like more information, or an application form, please contact the Town Clerk, Graham Thomson.

March 22, 2019 in Council

Notice of Vacancy in the Office of Councillor, Loatland Ward

Pursuant to Section 87(f) of the Local Government Act 1972, a vacancy now exists in the office of Councillor for the Loatland Ward of the Town Council. 

If, within fourteen working days* of the date of this notice, a request for an election to fill the vacancy is made in writing to either: 

– the Returning Officer at Kettering Borough Council or

– Desborough Town Council’s The Town Clerk

by TEN electors for the Ward, an election will be held to fill the vacancy. If no such request is received the Town Council may fill the vacancy by co-option. 

A copy of the formal notice is here.

February 28, 2019 in Uncategorized

Honoured Citizen Award

Desborough Town Council’s Honoured Citizen Award is a tribute to members of the community and confers no material honours or special privileges. Awards may be made at any time and will not necessarily be made on an annual or regular basis.

Awards will take the form of an official letter or certificate, and may be presented at an appropriate place such as the recipient’s school or workplace, at an event, at a Town Council meeting, posted to them, or presented in private.

The scheme is intended to celebrate exceptional citizenship but to avoid embarrassment we keep details of nominations and deliberations confidential.

The nomination form is here (in pdf) and here (in word), together with the policy here.

February 15, 2019 in Community

Membership of the Council

Eamon Gilbey has ceased to be a member of Desborough Town Council (DTC) by reason of non-attendance at meetings over a six month period (as outlined by statute). Ordinarily the Town Council would have declared the vacancy and would move to advertise it. This allows any ten electors to requisition a poll (a by-election). If no by-election is called then DTC can seek to co-opt.

However, in the six months prior to the date of an ordinary election (originally scheduled for May 2019) there is no provision for a by-election to be held, so the Council would move straight to co-option.

The six month period referred to above began at the start of November 2018. However the Northamptonshire (Changes to Years of Elections) Order 2018 came into force in January 2019 and the consequence of this was that it moved the election date back twelve months. However, the Order was silent on the impact of this change on the six month rule as outlined above.

This situation affects all Councils named in the Order. Therefore, colleagues at the Borough Council have requested guidance on behalf of all District/Borough Councils (and by implication the Parish/Town Councils in their areas) in the North Northamptonshire area from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) which is the Government department responsible for drafting the Order referred to above. Although this was requested in mid-January, no advice has yet been received. Therefore the MHCLG has again been requested as a matter of urgency to outline what course of action should be taken by all affected Councils in Northamptonshire when a vacancy arises.

Until the advice is received from MHCLG, it is unclear whether the vacancy can be filled by election, or must be filled by co-option. Colleagues at KBC have assured DTC that they are pressing MHCLG for an urgent response to this issue so that it is clear what the correct process is and to ensure all such vacancies are filled in accordance with the law.

February 15, 2019 in Council

Please bear with us

We are delighted to be working with a new website provider but not everything was live before the old site switched off.  We are working on this and the site will have more content added in the coming days.

If you sent us any email from Friday 15 February to Tuesday 19 February 2019 and you haven’t had a reply it is possible that we didn’t receive it.  Please send your email again and accept our apologies.

February 15, 2019 in Community