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Plans to make some new unitary authorities hold three elections in their first five years have caused outrage in local government. New unitaries in east and west Cheshire, Northumberland and Durham already face elections this May, and in 2013. But the Boundary Committee is set to undertake a review of the three areas in 2009, and the Electoral Commission is now calling for an additional election in 2010, which will mean the new authorities will face three elections in their first five years. In a letter to Electoral Commission chairman, Sam Younger, Durham CC chief executive, Mark Lloyd, said that while councillors would welcome an electoral review, it should not ‘be rushed or take place during the infancy of the new unitary authority'. He wrote: ‘If councillors are faced with the prospect of having to stand for election again, only one year into their unitary term of office, it will add further uncertainty during a period of already significant change.' A Cheshire CC spokesman said the plans would ‘impose an unrealistic administrative burden on any new authority'. Association of Electoral Administrators chief executive, John Turner, said he was concerned whether his members had sufficient resources to hold elections this year. The other new unitaries in Cornwall, Shropshire and Wiltshire all face new elections in May 2009. ‘The initial few years of new unitary authorities should be stable and provide the opportunity for the strong leadership, necessary to get off to a good start,' said a Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman. ‘It is for the Electoral Commission to decide the right course for achieving this.' No-one was available from the Electoral Commission to comment.

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WHITEHALL

Anger over elections overload

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