Commentary Part 7 – Miscellaneous and Supplementary Section 42: Parish meetings: parish polls
150.Section 42 modernises the arrangements surrounding parish polls. Currently, a parish poll may be demanded on any question arising from a parish meeting. A poll is triggered if either the Chairman of the parish meeting consents or if the poll is demanded by not less than 10 or one-third of the electors present at the meeting, whichever is the less. Polling can only take place from 4-9pm and there are no provisions for polling cards or postal/proxy voting.
151.The section amends paragraph 18 of Schedule 12 to the Local Government Act 1972 including the existing provisions by which the Secretary of State has a power to create rules about polls subsequent to parish meetings. The new clause would provide the Secretary of State with a power to make regulations about the conduct of parish polls covering in particular: the number of local government electors who must demand a poll for a poll to be required, the questions arising at a meeting on which a poll may be held and the arrangements for the conduct of a poll, for example, the hours in which a vote may be cast.
152.Sub-paragraphs (9) and (10) of paragraph 18 would allow for the regulations made by the Secretary of State to apply existing electoral legislation to parish polls such as procedures for postal voting. By sub-paragraph (11) the regulations would be subject to the negative resolution procedure. Subsection (4) would make a number of technical amendments to section 243 of the Local Government Act 1972.