Eight members of parish council resign in the wake of decision to disqualify councillor

The repercussions of Tostock Parish Council’s decision to disqualify councillor Olivia Boland has led to members resigning.

Five of the eight remaining parish councillors have left, including the chair and vice chair after Mrs Boland obtained an injunction preventing her removal while judicial review proceedings started.

The council is now facing the review of its decision to disqualify her after she failed to attend a meeting for six months or to send in a formal apology for absence.

It’s left just three parish councillors – the bare minimum required for a quorum at meetings.

Mid Suffolk Council has now been asked to intervene.

A spokesman for the district council is reported to have said they are aware of the situation at Tostock Parish Council and “have been supporting the parish with governance advice to try to ensure it can fairly and legally continue to fulfil its democratic duties for the village.”

He said the council is technically still quorate, however this does not provide any scope to allow for absences or conflicts of interest, so Mid Suffolk is now looking at options in terms of exercising its power to appoint parish councillors to fill the vacancies.

More councillors will have to be appointed to maintain the parish council until the next elections are held in 2023.