Brendon Commons Council

DRAFT AGENDA

For the Twenty- Third Meeting to be held at 7.pm on 9^th March 2023 in Brendon Village Hall.

download the agenda here

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The Brendon Commons Council Establishment Order 2013 came into force on 1 January 2014. It requires that elections and appointments of members of the Council must take place at the initial meeting of the Council prior to its formal establishment on 1 April 2014.
The Returning Officer for Brendon Commons Council to outline has compiled draft lists of active graziers and other commoners and the owner. This list is based upon the live register of Brendon Commoners kept by Brendon Commoners Association.

You can see the draft list of graziers here.(pdf) 

Notices (see top of this page) have been published concerning the list and the way to make a representation if you wish to. Representations need to be made by noon on the 28th of February 2014. Once the representation period is closed the draft list will be finalised by the Returning Officer and this finalised List will determine the eligibility to vote and in which category (active grazier or non-active grazier).

The initial meeting of the Council will be on Tuesday the 4th March, at 6.30pm in Brendon Village Hall to which all people on the final list are invited. At this initial meeting the appointment of council members will take place and nominations in writing for election as members of the council (for 3 active grazier member places and 1 non-active grazier place) are invited, please send any nominations to the Returning Officer by Noon on Monday 3rd March (so that appointments can be announced at the meeting). The owner of the common is also invited to appoint a member of the Council.

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At the meeting on Tuesday 4th March the Returning Officer will be: -

1. Announcing  any valid nominations for membership of the council; and
2. Announcing  the name of any validly appointed member of the council.

If the number of valid nominations is less than the number of vacancies then the Returning Officer will declare those candidates to be elected unopposed, e.g. if there are 3 active graziers vacancies on the council but only 2 or 3 nominations are received then they must be declared duly elected. 
However if the number of nominees exceeds the number of vacancies then the Returning Officer will hold an election by ballot of the people in attendance of the initial meeting. In the event of a tie of votes, each vote must be weighted by the extent of the rights held by the voters, and the candidate with the largest weight of votes is to be elected.

Only persons on the final lists are entitled to vote and only for persons in their list, e.g. active graziers can only vote for active graziers. Each commoner only has one vote, so where two or more commoners are commoners due to a joint holding, they must nominate one of them to vote. Anyone entitled to vote can appoint a proxy and I can accept votes in writing from proxies.
Once the appointments have been made the Returning Officer is required to make, sign and date a written declaration in order to evidence the election and appointments of persons to the council. 
The appointment of co-opted members from Natural England and ENPA will wait until the first meeting of the Brendon Commons Council after 1st April 2014.

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If you have any queries regarding the Returning Officers duties or the procedures or wish to make representations upon the draft list (by Noon on 28th February) or a nomination (by noon 3rd March) please either.
Email: Jeremy Holtom - Jeremy@landsense.co.uk, or write to 

Returning Officer BCC ,c/o Landsense Professional Ltd, Unit 2 Limecourt, Pathfields Business Park, South Molton, Devon EX36 3LH