Ten Dunmore ward electors can force a by-election for Abingdon's vacant seat. The notice prints no deadline. Counted properly it is Wednesday 9 September.

Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council has a vacant seat in Dunmore ward, and residents have until Wednesday 9 September to decide whether it is filled by a public vote or by the councillors themselves.

The council published its notice of casual vacancy on 19 August. If ten local government electors registered in Dunmore ward write to the returning officer within fourteen working days, a by-election must be held. If nobody does, the remaining councillors fill the seat by co-option.

Working out the deadline

The notice does not print a date. It says fourteen working days from 19 August, and that Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays do not count.

Counting from the day after the notice, and skipping the weekends and the summer bank holiday on Monday 31 August, the fourteenth working day is Wednesday 9 September 2026.

Calendar strip counting fourteen working days from Thursday 20 August to Wednesday 9 September, with weekends and the 31 August bank holiday excluded
How the fourteen working days fall. Graphic by Abingdon Online.

Requests go in writing to the Returning Officer, Vale of White Horse District Council, Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon, OX14 3JE. The Vale’s by-elections and casual vacancies page names Adrianna Partridge as returning officer and gives electoral services as elections@southandvale.gov.uk or 01235 422422. Because the deadline is a statutory one, confirm it with the elections team before you rely on it.

The threshold is ten signatures for a parish or town council seat. For a district council seat it is two. The Vale’s page also sets out what happens next: enough requests trigger a notice of election and a nominations period, and if more candidates come forward than there are seats, a poll is held.

The seat

The vacancy follows the death of Councillor Margaret Crick on 10 July, which the town council announced the following week.

The tribute sets out a nineteen-year record in local government:

  • first elected to the town council in May 2007 for Caldecott ward
  • representing Dunmore ward since May 2011
  • serving on the Environment, Amenities and Infrastructure committee, the Planning committee and the Museum sub-committee
  • Mayor of Abingdon in 2018-19
  • elected to Vale of White Horse District Council at a by-election in September 2014, standing down in 2023
  • Chair of the Vale for four successive years from 2019

The town flag was flown at half-mast from County Hall.

Dunmore is one of the town’s larger wards. The council’s councillors page says Caldecott, Dunmore and Peachcroft each return four town councillors, while Fitzharris Wildmoor returns one, across 19 seats and seven wards. That page currently lists three Dunmore councillors, and 17 councillors in total against the 19 seats it describes. The council has published a vacancy notice for Dunmore only, and we could not confirm from published records what accounts for the other gap.

What it means for you

If you are on the electoral register at a Dunmore ward address, you are one of the people who can trigger this. Ten of you are enough, and the request has to be in writing and with the returning officer by 9 September.

If no request arrives, the seat is filled by co-option, which means the sitting councillors choose the new member themselves. That is a legitimate route and a common one for parish and town councils, but it is a decision made by the council rather than by the ward.

Worth knowing before you decide:

  • The current council was elected on 4 May 2023, so whoever takes the seat serves the remainder of that term.
  • A by-election costs the town council money that a co-option does not. The Vale’s guidance for parish clerks says the council starts incurring election costs once the notice of election is published, “irrespective of whether it is contested or not”, and that the elections team will give an estimate on request. The town council has not published one for this seat.
  • Co-option is not done behind closed doors. The same guidance says the debate and vote must happen in the public part of a council meeting, by an absolute majority of those present and voting, normally on a show of hands, and that candidates are entitled to be there. Whether the council advertises the seat, and how, is left to the council to decide.
  • You can express an interest in the seat without calling an election. The guidance expects electors to contact the council while the notice is displayed.

The town council’s committee papers and meeting dates are published on abingdon.gov.uk. We cover the district’s planning decisions on our Abingdon planning news page, and track house prices across the Vale and what is shut on the roads week by week.