Slough Borough Council under-fire from parish councillor

Councillor Iftakhar Ahmed (independent), chairman of WCPC, asked the authorities electoral service for information to be made publicly available or sent to the parish council after a letter was sent to Slough’s electoral services triggering a by-election in Wexham.

The electoral service emailed the chairman on February 28 saying they have received a petition from ten electorates within the parish prompting the Wexham Parish by-election which will be held on May 7, 2020.

Half a dozen spaces are available after the resignations of six parish councillors from WCPC last month over concerns about a lack of professional staff in place.

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Councillor Ahmed said: “I really want the council to publish that petition for the sake of transparency as the public trust is at an all-time low following of the recent convictions regarding electoral registration fraud.

“I am concerned about this as I want to see if the petition is real or not.”

He also claims that if SBC fails to show this information, then the authority may have to cover WCPC by-election costs which could be up to £10,000.

However, Fiona Ahern, electoral services manager at SBC, said: “I can confirm that the Chair and Clerk of Wexham Court Parish have been informed that they can inspect the document at the electoral services office at Slough Borough Council.”

This is not the first time the councils have been at loggerheads with each other.

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SBC attempted to abolish the then Labour-controlled WCPC back in 2018 due to supposed mismanagement in governance and finance.

The two councils were also in dispute with one another last year after WCPC decided to terminate its agreement with SBC to surrender its lease on land at Norway Drive for the authority to build 24 homes on.