Labour has called for a by-election after a councillor stepped down from Caerphilly Town Council.
Mike Thomas, who represented the Tonyfelin ward for Plaid Cymru, stood down for personal reasons.
Morgan Jones ward Labour councillor James Pritchard said: “Labour believes the only way to ensure democratic accountability is through the ballot box.
“We will encourage our local supporters to write into electoral services to request that a by-election takes place so that whoever is elected at the by election will have gained their position on merit.
“We ask Plaid Cymru to encourage their supporters do the same so a fair contest can take place.”
However, Plaid Cymru, which controls Caerphilly Town Council, has argued a by-election would cost taxpayers.
Councillor James Fussell, Plaid Cymru Mayor of Caerphilly Town Council, said: “Mike Thomas has stood down for personal reasons and I’d like to thank him for his work on the council.
“The Labour Party is quite entitled to call a by-election however I’m told that a single by-election would probably cost between £2,000 and £3,000. That is money that would be lost to the work of the council. We make donations to charities and good causes and that would inevitably have an effect on that.
“Ideally, to avoid the expenditure on a by-election, it would seem sensible if the Labour Party agreed to allow us to co-opt one of our members onto the council to replace Mike who was elected as a Plaid member.”
The Tonyfelin ward mainly covers Bedwas Road and the Park Avenue estate.
For a town council by-election to take place ten people from the town council ward need to write to the Electoral Services Officer requesting one.
Submissions for a by-election for the Tonyfelin ward need to be made by October 27.
The resignation of the Caerphilly Town`s Deputy Mayor is
regrettable half way into an elected administrations term, the fact is
that Mike Thomas was a very reasonable and considerate individual as a
Councillor, not always enthusiastically following his Plaid Cymru Party
line without first insisting on proper consideration of the facts of
matters under discussion, always the voice of moderation.
It
is said in the article that Mike Thomas was `Elected onto the Council`,
this is incorrect in that the people of Tonyfelin did not have that
opportunity to vote, that was not Mikes fault of course, Mike was
`appointed` as a Councillor by his Political Party Colleagues, it is
therefore very disingenuous and undemocratic for the Current Town Mayor
to suggest, for whatever reason, that he and his political colleagues
APPOINT someone else in Mikes place, and, not to give the residents of
Tonyfelin their democratic rights to elect someone to represent them on
this Council.
This grossly unhealthy desire to
circumvent the democratic process is a dangerous path to go down, and
for a senior Plaid Cymru political party figure, who`s role it is is to
represent the entire Caerphilly Town population as Mayor of the town,
and to represent Plaid Cymru as deputy leader of Plaid Cymru on
Caerphilly County Borough Council, to publicly declare such a view, that
such a process, is sound in democratic terms is perverse, I am asking
if the Mayors views are those of Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Woods and the
Plaid Cymru leader in Caerphilly Colin Mann, and the position held by
Councillor James Fussell are also their views on the processes to be
followed in such circumstances?.
I shudder to think
what would happen to local politics if the ruling group could always fill any
casual vacancies for councillors , with unelected members of their
party,dispensing with the need to hold elections, I am sure Councillor
Fussell would be first in line to condemn such moves, come to think
about it Plaid Cymru would probably never have smelt local political
power if such a process existed and been taken advantage of.
I regret that Cllr. Mike Thomas has decided to stand down as he was not a blinkered political individual and I thank him both for his service to the people of Caerffili and his support on several issues.
Mike was not elected, as stated by Cllr. Fussel, but was put forward for a vacant seat by his party, Plaid Cymru. Cllr. Fussel was also a beneficiary of this entry to the Town Council as he was not elected either. Of the eight Plaid Cymru councillors after the 2012 election four were not elected. The remaining four (Labour and Independent) were all elected by the people.
I strongly disagree with Cllr. Fussel that it would be best to co-opt a Plaid Cymru member onto the council rather than hold a free and fair election. I think that this reflects our differing view on politics, I am a democrat and to the core and will welcome whoever wins Ton Y Felin as a democratically elected representative of the people. It is the people who provide all of the money we spend as a council and it is them who are the bosses, not party political leaders.