Paperwork gaffe forces entire Kent council into £4,500 re-election with taxpayers to stump up the cost

Thanet District Council (TDC) has said it has “no discretion” but to hold an election for its 10 seats.

TDC leader Rick Everett said: “These are unhappy circumstances but, unfortunately, the legal advice we’ve received is that we have to do what we’re advised by officers.”

A decision was taken “in error” before the 2023 vote to delete the north and south ward names from the parish ward boundaries, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

This meant the council was effectively elected en masse in one ward.

The parish is legally meant to have two wards, Birchington North with four councillors, and Birchington South with six.

This mirrors the TDC wards of the same name.

No queries were raised as the mistake was not spotted.

When BPC chairman Marcel Pooke resigned from his position in September, the whole council had to be re-elected as it was impossible to know which ward the vacancy had appeared in.

A new election with the proper ward names was therefore called by district councillors who met this week to address the major blunder.

The TDC report said that holding the election will cost around £4,400.

A date for the new vote is yet to be decided upon, but it usually comes several weeks after an official notice of election is released, which is yet to happen.

The BPC’s new chairman, Nick Blankley, said the turn of events has left him “disappointed”.

He fears a significant change in how the council is comprised could disrupt a “range of things that are in process”.

This may include the setting out of the council’s budget, adding that the “people of Birchington would not be any better off than they are now”.