FURIOUS residents have blasted a council for plans to postpone elections, insisting their “right to vote is being taken away.” Basildon residents have slammed the “shocking” decision by Basildon Borough Council to request the elections, scheduled for May, be postponed.
The council agreed to write to the Government to request the elections are cancelled at a meeting on January 8. Councillors agreed the elections should be postponed as part of the major shake up to all local councils, which will see them scrapped and replaced with larger more powerful local authorities.
Grandmother of three, Maureen King, 68, from Basildon said: “As a woman, I am so angry about this, historically women had to fight for the right to vote. It took so long for women to get the ability to vote and be able to do it and now it’s being taken away so quickly and easily. We have lost voice, we have no say over who is running our council and services. I think it’s disgusting.”
Minutes from the meeting, state postponing the elections “avoids unnecessary election costs” – expected to be approximately £250,000 and would mean “essential officer and financial capacity” can focus the restructure of the council.
Allan Costello, 45, a shop worker, from Basildon pointed out other councils are holding elections in Essex. He said: “I think Basildon is in the minority. There has been no open communication with the public about this and why it’s being done. There has also been no consultation about it. It feels like the councillors are just doing what they want. It shouldn’t be allowed.”
Robert Cox, 81, a former solicitor, added that everyone is “angry.” He also slammed the decision and called it “dark times for democracy.”
He added: “I can’t believe they can do this. I’ve never seen or known anything like this before. This is a big deal and it’s hard to explain why it’s a big issue. Everyone I know is talking about it. It was good to see the huge turn out at the meeting. The councillors should be ashamed of themselves.”
A Basildon Council spokesperson said: “Basildon Council’s Cabinet has approved the Leader of the Council writing to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in response to the Government’s invitation for councils to set out any concerns about capacity and value for money in relation to the Borough Council elections scheduled for May 2026.
“The Council remains fully supportive of the Government’s programme of devolution and Local Government Reorganisation and continues to invest significant officer time and resources in preparing for the creation of new unitary councils and all-out elections to shadow authorities in May 2027. Any decision to postpone elections due to Local Government Reorganisation rests solely with the Secretary of State and national government.”
