ADVICE and information for potential council candidates could avoid confusion for new councillors after next year’s elections, it has been claimed.
Training is provided for new councillors following each set of council elections while Torfaen Borough Council is already planning training for newly elected members, and current councillors who are re-elected, next year.
All 40 seats on the council will be up for election in May along with every other council seat in Wales, with the last council elections held in May 2022.
Mark Rees, an independent member of the public appointed to the council’s ethics and standards committee, asked what training is available for those putting themselves forward as candidates.
He said: “We’ve seen a whole lot of council elections in England earlier this year and a whole stack of councillors that put themselves up for election and didn’t realise or understand the expectations or what was required of them.
“A number have now said they didn’t realise they had to do this, that or the other. I just thought we could prevent that.”
Mr Rees asked what information is available to candidates about the role of a councillor and “what is expected of them, what they might have to declare in terms of register of interests that sort of thing and do they have that sort of information before they go out knocking on doors and flinging stuff out on social media saying ‘vote for me’?”
Council monitoring officer Delyth Harris said her role only “kicks in” when candidates are elected and become councillors and she provides advice on the code of conduct they must abide by. She said she would check with the council’s election team what information it sends to candidates.
Council deputy leader Councillor Richard Clark said it was a “partisan answer” but his Labour group meets and holds events for would-be candidates and said: “We go over what is expected of them and go through things like training and declarations etc.”
He also said he understood information is available from the Electoral Commission but acknowledged: “The onus is on the individual to look at the Electoral Commission and they may not know they cover local government elections.”