Decision

Decision to change the date of
the election to be held inof Birchington
Parish South and Birchington Parish North by two weeks in
accordance with the following revised timetable:
 
Publication of Notice of
Election - Thursday 5 February 2026
Day of Poll 
- Thursday 12 March 2026

Reasons for the decision

This decision is being made
further to my published decision made on the 19 November. This
decision set out the reasons for the Council exercising its
discretion under section 39 (4) of the Representation of the People
Act 1983 to call an election in Birchington Parish North and
Birchington Parish South.
 
In accordance with statutory
provisions the decision was made to call the election as soon as
practicable. The date initially set took account of the
significance of the Parish’s budget setting process and the
date of election was set for the 26 February 2026 with the notice
of election being published on 22 January 2026. Subsequent to this
I was asked to consider a request made by the Chair of the Parish
Council to delay the election by a further period of two weeks to
allow for consideration of a potentially controversial decision to
be made that might otherwise have presented difficulties as a
result of the pre-election period. I gave careful consideration to
this request and took into account the fact that whilst the issue
to be decided was business as usual it had the potential to
interfere with the Parish Council’s discussion on the matter
to be decided. I also considered the fact that there was a deadline
for the Parish Council to make the decision referred to.
Accordingly, I took the decision to agree to the changed date in
accordance with the timetable set out above.

Alternative options considered

Consideration was given to
leaving the election timetable to that originally decided. It was
accepted that this could cause difficulties for the Parish Council
in respect of a potentially controversial decision that had to be
made within what would have been the pre-election period under the
initial timetable proposed.