Conservative motion at Burnley Council - consulting the public on moving to all out elections

The third system sees three borough councillors elected over a four-year period. One each year with the fourth year left without borough elections.

The proposed change, put forward by the Conservative group on Burnley Council, would instead see all councillors elected in a single year rather than spread over four years.

The move comes as the Local Boundary Commission for England starts a review into wards sizes with a shake-up of the boundaries that elect local councillors. Under plans set out this month, there will be all out elections to elect the whole council in 2027 regardless of whether this change is adopted.

That has given rise to a debate on whether to change the voting cycle to match places like Ribble Valley Council, and more recently Rossendale Borough Council which made the same change earlier this year.

Proponents of the idea cite massively reduced costs associated with the current system of thirds. At present, under the current electoral cycle, Burnley Council spends around £450,000 on borough elections every four years. These new proposals would reduce the cost to £150,000 over the same period, giving the council around £300,000 of savings from council tax receipts.

Hapton with Park Coun. Jamie McGowan said: “It’s more than just about the £300,000 saving we would see by making this change. It’s about bringing us in line with how other local authorities are run. That’s why we’re bringing this motion to Full Council.

“For reasons unknown we have elections every year, not to elect all of the council, but only a third. It means it’s constantly election time. And it’s no wonder we have turnouts of just 30% when residents are bombarded with elections every May - essentially to have their say on the same thing year in year out.

There are some big changes potentially coming down the line with local council boundaries up for review and so if we are to do this then now is the time. All out elections are happening in 2027 regardless and so this proposal is just to make that a permanent feature subject to the views of local people.”

The Conservative motion calls for a consultation to seek the views of residents before any decision is taken with the results forming part of a debate to take place in early 2025. The motion will be debated at the next Full Council taking place on December 4th.

At the last Burnley Council election in May, Labour won just six seats following party turmoil over Gaza last year.

Of the 15 seats up for grabs across the borough, Burnley Independent Group took three, the Conservatives won three, Lib Dems won two and Greens won one. The total election turnout across the borough was 29.77%.

It meant that Labour has gained four extra seats on the council overall and now has a total of 15. Meanwhile, the Burnley Independent Group has 10 overall, having lost one to Labour.