Report by Jon Cooper – Local Democracy Reporter
Shirebrook Town Council is expected to return to business after it successfully co-opted eight new councillors following a suspension of operations due to the resignation of 11 councillors.
The new councillors were co-opted and appointed during a town council meeting at Shirebrook Town Hall, on December 22, bringing its total number of councillors to 13 after it had been reduced to five and had been unable to secure a minimum of six councillors to function with any business matters as a quorate.
But after Bolsover District Council voted to temporarily appoint five of its councillors as temporary town councillors Shirebrook Town Council was able to hold the crucial meeting which allowed them to appoint eight new councillors so the district councillors will soon be expected to stand down.
A town council spokesperson said: “I am looking forward to working with the councillors – old and new – to make the council function again.”
Eleven Shirebrook Town Councillors, including former Chairperson Sarah Brooks, resigned around August and September and in December after the council had been at the centre of a degree of discord and disagreements among the public and councillors which led to two confidential meetings being abandoned.
The town council, which needs a minimum of six councillors to function as a quorate, had sought support from the Derbyshire Association of Local Councils which was putting together a package of recommendations for the authority including training sessions.
However, following the latest two resignations of former Chairperson and councillor, Sarah Brooks, and former Cllr Tony Brooks, in December, the town council was reduced from 16 to just five councillors.
A district council spokesperson stated this meant the town council was in effect ‘paralysed from conducting any town council business’ and the remaining councillors had been unable to make any decisions or complete the co-option of councillors.
Bolsover District Council Monitoring Officer Jim Fieldsend explained at least six town councillors would have been required, or at least one-third of the town council’s normal full membership of 16, for it to be a functioning quorate but with only five councillors it was unable to make decisions.
The district council stated a Notice of Vacancy was received after nine councillors originally resigned around August and September but no election was called as the town council began a process to co-opt new councillors, however by December 4 the district council was informed that two more councillors had resigned.
Bolsover District Councillors voted unanimously in favour of making an order under section 91 of the Local Government Act 1972 to make temporary appointments to the town council with five district councillors including district councillors John Ritchie, Mary Dooley, Tom Munro, Amanda Davis and Will Fetcher until other councillors have been co-opted and taken up office.
Shirebrook Town Council received a number of applications from potential town councillors hoping to be appointed and co-opted by the town council onto the authority in one of nine vacant places without the need for an election.
Eight new councillors have now been co-opted onto the town council including Kerry Kirk, David Downes, Andrew Stevens, Oliver Kershaw-Dickson, Neil Bradbury, Ricky Holland, Michael Yates and Shelley Arapi.
Following the resignations of former town councillors, Sarah Brooks and Tony Burns, a request for a Notice of Vacancy was received in relation to these recent resignations and this may still result in an election, possibly in March, for these two vacant seats with new councillors being elected.
The nine other town councillors who resigned earlier in the year include Jennifer Wilson, Nicola Smith, Pauline Chapman, Terry Chapman, Paul Harford, Vicky Kirby, Marian Stockdale, Steve Fritchley and Christine Dale.
The five surviving Shirebrook Town Councillors include Martin Barber, Shaun Cheeseman, Fred Gobey, Brian Murray-Carr and Dale Smith and they will now be joined by the eight newly-co-opted councillors.
Former Shirebrook Town Councillor Steve Fritchley, who used to be Leader of Bolsover District Council, and former town councillor, Jennifer Wilson, both continue to serve as Bolsover District Councillors for Langwith and Shirebrook North respectively.
Among the previous discord at the town council two confidential council meetings had to be abandoned concerning Shirebrook Town Football Club’s bid to take over the running and maintenance of the council’s village hall for the club and the community and this was followed by a number of councillors’ resignations.
A town council spokesperson stated these meetings were abandoned after some councillors did not agree with the proposed project for the village hall while others felt a public consultation should have taken place and some did not want to take the matter forward with the public excluded.
Disputes in the community alongside the councillors’ resignations also attracted a lot of online and social media fervour with some alarming and personal comments.
Shirebrook Town Council had been a Labour-controlled authority with 16 Labour councillors after the last election but many became Independent prior to the town council eventually also seeing many resignations.
Following the arrival of the eight newly-co-opted councillors it is understood the town council may currently not have any one controlling overall political party with a mix of Labour, Independent and Reform members but after a temporary suspension of operations it will soon be able to function and make decisions again with a total of 13 councillors.
