Chairman’s Column: Heybridge West Election Results and Statutory Annual Meeting
Published on Tuesday, 19th April 2022
“Hello again…. again!...... I am delighted to be back to keep you updated with Chairman’s news from and about the District Council.
"You may remember that I paused writing this column back in January because of certain legal restrictions during the pre-election period, for Wickham Bishops. Following that election another was immediately announced for Heybridge West because of the disqualification of a Councillor for that area, just giving me time to squeeze in news of how Maldon District Council has supported Ukraine following the terrible events we have all witnessed after the invasion by Russia.
“I am delighted to tell you that following the election last Thursday (14 April) Paula Spenceley (Liberal Democrats) was duly elected as the new District member for Heybridge West once again making a full complement of thirty-one District representatives.
“Councillor Spenceley won almost 50% of the vote beating four other candidates. She is well known in Maldon and is a very experienced news reporter. She takes over the seat of Chrisy Morris, who was disqualified from being a Councillor after a court appearance in February. I offer my warmest congratulations to Councillor Spenceley for her successful campaign and welcome her to the District. The current make-up of Maldon District Council is now 1 Liberal Democrat Councillor, 16 Independent Councillors (of which four are non-aligned), and 14 Conservative Councillors (of which three are non-aligned).
“By law, Maldon District Council has to meet annually to ‘reset’ the Council. This is known as the ‘Statutory Annual Meeting’ and we will be holding ours on Thursday 12 May. We will continue to live stream the Council meetings which seems to have been very popular. At the Annual Meeting the Council will elect the Chairman of the Council (or elect a person to preside if the Chairman is not present), elect the Vice-Chairman of the Council, receive any announcements from the Chairman, ratify the Leader-designate or elect a new Leader, appoint the Deputy Leader, appoint Committees and decide the allocation of seats to political groups in accordance with political balance rules. We also appoint Councillors to serve on Committees and hold special meetings of those Committees to elect the Chairmen and appoint Vice-Chairmen together with appointing Councillors to serve on both Working Groups of the Council and Outside Bodies.
“Until next time, I hope you had a happy Easter. Do take care.”
Councillor Mark S. Heard
Chairman of Maldon District Council
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