Parish and town council candidates for election were announced today, following the borough council candidates yesterday. All twenty Downham Market Town Council seats in all four wards were up for re-election.
All four of the wards which make up Downham Market town council were ‘uncontested’, meaning that the number of candidates who put themselves forward was fewer than, or the exact number of, seats available in that ward. Each ward on the town council has 5 seats available and all but Downham Old Town had exactly five people stand (Old Town had four candidates stand for election).
All those candidates who put themselves forward are now elected to be councillors on the town council without going to a public ballot. The ballot for borough councillors will still go ahead on 4th May.
It is fairly common for parish or town councils to be populated with councillors this way. Only 8 out of the 100 wards in West Norfolk up for election were contested, those 8 will go to a public ballot while the other 92 wards are now elected.
Town councils are responsible for services such as management of town and village centres, litter, verges, cemeteries, parks, ponds, allotments, war memorials and community halls. They are funded by a ‘precept’ which they set and forms part of the local council tax bill.
The remaining seat in the Downham Old Town ward will likely be filled by a process called co-option, where the council accepts applications and decides amongst themselves who to elect onto the council. Ten members of the public can apply to the borough council to re-run an election process for the seat.
The councillors elected to Downham Market Town Council are:
Downham Old Town ward
Michael Lane
Christopher Perkin
Gemma Marie Sullivan
Jackie Westrop
East Downham ward
Charis Emily Brewer
Ali Buxton
Anne Marsay
Charlie Pyatt
Eve Ramy Tawfick
North Downham ward
Frank Daymond
Anne Maria Incorvaia
Justin Lewis
Betty Gladys Moyses
Barrie Wiles
South Downham ward
John William Doyle
Daniel Andrew Jordan
Tony Richard John Leach
Valerie Elizabeth Leivers
Steve Moyses
