How did St Neots Town Council cover it own elections.

Having been bunged the Quality Town Status by CPALC I thought I would take a look at how the Town Council dealt the Town Council elections. One of the tests for being a Quality Town Council is to promote Local Democracy and Citizenship.

Every 4 years the Town Council holds an election where all Town Councillors are up for election. So what has the Town Council actually done to promote these elections? Well nothing. Unlike other Town and Parish Councils this election has really passed St Neots Town Council by.

• No notices of election were published.
• Nomination papers which should be available from the Town Council offices weren't publicised.
• Even when one candidate died there was no notice of a countermanded poll on the Town Council website.
• The website and the noticeboards dotted around the Town have been devoid of anything to do with the Town Council elections.

What standard were Steve Wilkinson and his Accreditation Committee at CPALC looking at when they bunged St Neots Town Council the Quality Status Award? Time and again the Town Council falls down on the job and having been bunged the award doesn't really care about maintaining the standards set. St Neots Town Council knows they will get the award anyway so why do the hard work for the next 3 years when it will get the Quality Status award anyway!