The move is one of a number of measures the government is putting in place to allow for fair and COVID-secure participation in the upcoming council and mayoral elections in England, and the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales.

The legislation, which has been laid before Parliament, will allow anyone who is self-isolating due to COVID-19 to access an emergency proxy vote, up to 17:00 on election day.

Minister of State for the Constitution & Devolution, Chloe Smith, said:

“These elections can and will be delivered in a COVID-secure way and the extended proxy voting rules are a key part of this.

“The new rules will mean that voters who have tested positive for COVID-19, or are self-isolating, can still have their say in these elections without having to leave their home.”

The new legislation allows:

• All those who are unable to attend a polling station as a result of COVID-19, including those who are shielding, to appoint a proxy beyond the usual deadline.
• All those with an existing proxy arrangement to appoint a new proxy up until 17:00 on polling day if their proxy is affected by COVID-19 and are unable to act as a proxy.

On Friday 5 February, the government confirmed that the polls scheduled for 6 May 2021, including council and mayoral elections in England and Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) in England and Wales, will go ahead as planned.

The government has also published a Delivery Plan setting out guidance on how the polls will be delivered in a COVID-19 secure and effective way, which included preliminary changes to proxy voting rules. As usual, anyone can also secure a postal vote in advance of the May elections. The deadline for all postal voting applications is 17:00 on Tuesday 20 April. Anyone who wants to vote by post is encouraged to apply to do so as early as possible and not wait until the deadline.

Rumoured, many years ago, to be a portal into the underworld, from which the devil would emerged riding a carriage pulled by headless horses. It is said to be bottomless and was recently found to be the home of the endangered great crested newt. 

With it’s heritage, and endangered species, it was quite saddening to see a dead moorhen amongst a build up of litter this weekend while taking a walk. 

The Whirly Pits is the kind of area that needs regular maintenance from the council, as it is not an area in which the public can help clean due to the algae on the waters surface.

This has been reported this to the council via their website and a response is pending.

This event gives the people of the town the chance to have a voice and air their views. The meeting was cancelled last year because of Covid, but this event will be held online and a link to the meeting will be provided by the council when one is available. We will also place it here for you to copy and use at the time.

The council, of course, will be telling what they have been up to over the last year, or even perhaps the last two years.

Thames Valley Police will be providing us with an up-to-date report.

The meeting is open to all residents of the town and I’m sure should be very interesting.

At present we have only a few councillors after a recent spate of resignations There are recriminations over the resignations that are still ongoing. At present there are 10 councillors that appear on Olney Town Council website, five short of the required 15.

Hopefully an election, giving the citizens the chance to choose, will create a new council that can work peacefully together and will therefore be of benefit to the town.

So, remember the date, Thursday May 6th.