Concerns have been raised about the possibility that local elections could be cancelled in Bracknell.
Concerns have been raised that Bracknell Forest local elections could be cancelled.
The last council election was in 2023, when control flipped from the Conservatives to Labour. Councillors serve four‑year terms, so the next vote is scheduled for May 2027.
Fears about cancellation surfaced after 23 other councils voted to postpone elections this year, and were raised at a full meeting of Bracknell Forest Council on 14 January.
Councillor Gareth Barnard (Conservative, Whitegrove) asked: “There’s been much talk in other councils, both around strategic merit authorities and local government reorganization that some councils have sought to delay, cancel or postpone elections. “Can I seek assurances for the leader that, baked into all of these plans, that there will never be any plans to delay planned elections in Bracknell Forest, as democracy needs to be well served in all situations?”
The concerns come amid plans for local government reorganisation that could create a Thames Valley mayoral strategic authority covering Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Swindon.
Council leader Mary Temperton (Labour, Great Hollands) said postponement was unlikely, noting the cancelled elections elsewhere were where two‑tier areas were moving to unitary authorities — something Bracknell already is. She said: “If we have local elections in Bracknell Forest Council and we have a mayoral strategic authority, there is no reason why they have to be at different times, and therefore there will be no postponement at all.
“But I would never like to say never, because if it’s hundreds and hundreds of pounds of costs on allowances for two lots of councillors and the officers training them and also for two lots of elections going right across a huge area that is going to be hundreds of thousands of pounds and I’m not in a position to tell you that Bracknell Forest at the moment, is going to have money to do that sort of job.”
The issue was also raised in a written question from Sandhurst Town councillor John Edwards (Independent, Owlsmoor). Posting on Facebook, cllr Edwards said: “Cllr Temperton confirmed to me in writing that she supports the government’s plans to postpone local elections elsewhere in the country on the grounds of cost and administrative burden.
“She has also refused to rule out using the same anti-democratic tactics here in Bracknell. “Make no mistake: that logic is deeply authoritarian. “Everyone knows elections cost money and require administration, but that does not make them a ‘nice to have’ when convenient. “Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. The answer can never be to cancel them.”
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
