Politics and the Parish Council

To answer any questions from the general public.

ii: A question was asked why the Parish Council had supported the Lithium-Ion Battery Safety Bill, a private member's Bill brought by a Liberal Democrat peer, when the peer had been asked by the Labour Minister to withdraw the Bill because it overlapped with a Government Bill. The Council’s remit did not allow the involvement of national political parties, and three of the Parish Councillors had stood on a 'No Party Politics’ platform, so why did the Parish Council nail Claygate's colours to the Lib Dem Bill rather than to the Labour government's Bill? Cllr Collon explained that this was not a party political issue: Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and cross-bench members had spoken in favour of both the Lithium-ion Battery Safety Bill and the Government’s Product Safety and Metrology Bill. But the Government Bill was simply an enabling Bill. It would allow ministers to make regulations on the safety of lithium-ion batteries, but they were not obliged to, and the word “lithium” was not mentioned in the Bill. The private member’s Bill dealt only with the safety of lithium-ion batteries. This was a matter of importance to those local authorities which ran recycling centres, and the sponsors of the Bill had written to all local authorities, even those which did not run recycling centres, asking them to support the Bill. Because the Bill would not proceed any further without Government support, the Council did not resolve to support the Bill itself, but resolved to support its purposes. The sponsors of the Bill had been so informed. These were the views of the Council, not necessarily of Claygate residents, who had not been consulted. iii: A final question was that given the Chair of the Parish Council is the director and part-owner of a local electrical firm whose business includes the sale and installation of lithium-ion batteries, why did she not declare an interest before voting? This was postponed for Cllr Holt to respond at the next meeting.

(extract from Parish Council meeting, 10th October 2024, item 5)