Grantham Town Council leader Councillor Tim Harrison criticises costly election due to tight budget

A council leader has expressed exasperation following a mandatory election that could reduce their £46,000 budget by more than 10%.

Councillor Tim Harrison (Ind), leader of Grantham Town Council, has criticised the move, arguing it threatens financial stability and deters candidates due to high costs.

However, Labour Party representatives believe the election is a democratic right, and say they will call for one every time a seat comes up.

Councillor Harrison had urged residents to apply directly for the Springfield Ward seat to avoid the costly election and financial strain on the new council.

The seat became vacant in July after Councillor Kev Doughty resigned due to ill health.

Councillors were only voted into the new council on May 2 of this year.

Councillor Harrison noted that a £5,000 to £6,000 election bill could strain the council’s £46,000 first-year budget.

However, in a social media post over the weekend, he confirmed that an election had been called.

He criticised the decision, claiming the funds could be better used.

'While a by-election is democratic, I hoped common sense would prevail given the council’s limited budget," he said.

He added that a co-option process with applicants going before the full council would have been a no-cost measure and would have seen “any number of people able to apply”.

“Calling an election will eliminate a lot of those people from applying because they won’t be able to afford to do leaflets or go canvassing, etc.,” he said.

Only one application was received before the election was called, and it was submitted quickly.

One option would be to ask South Kesteven District Council to give the authority credit, but Councillor Harrison said he did not want to be in debt to the authority, especially in the first year.

“We’ll have to muddle through and try to make savings wherever else we can, as well as dip into any reserve funds we have,” he said.

He warned that the first thing that would be affected would be the events budget, mainly because a lot of other costs, such as wages and rent, would be mandatory.

The authority is already planning 'low-cost' events to save money in its first year.

Councillor Rob Shorrock (Labour) confirmed his party had been the ones to spark the election saying: “We’re democrats and we believe in democracy and therefore there should be an election.

The councillor believed that upholding democracy through an election was more important than the cost, and that the cost should not be used as an excuse to avoid holding an election when one has been called for.

He dismissed Councillor Harrison's arguments against holding the election saying there was “no cost to democracy” and that any “cost” to hold an election would “always be secondary”.

“If someone turns around and says they can’t afford to hold an election, where does that put us?” he asked.

He reiterated that the council could “seek credit” from SKDC to pay for the election, accepting that it would put the authority in debt to the district.

“It was a decision the [Labour] party made to say we would contest that election so we went ahead and did that and we would do that every single time a vacancy comes up.”

A date for the election is yet to be confirmed.

Grantham Together has announced their independent candidate Paddy Perry, who previously ran for the council.