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# Vacant seats on Burntwood Town Council to be filled by co-opting rather than by-election
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/vacant-seats-on-burntwood-town-council-to-be-filled-by-co-opting-rather-than-by-election/
- Published: 2019-10-22T15:21:23.000Z
- Updated: 2019-10-22T15:21:46.000Z
- Description: No by-election will be held to fill vacant seats on Burntwood Town Council, it has been confirmed.
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: Politics, News

No by-election will be held to fill vacant seats on Burntwood Town Council, it has been confirmed.

![The Old Mining College Centre in Burntwood, home of Burntwood Town Council](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e3/90/e390c3da-0866-4d2a-8ffe-ca4999d7ce1c/content/images/lichfieldlive-co-uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/wp-1453934842069-1.jpg)

The Old Mining College Centre in Burntwood, home of Burntwood Town Council

Highfield ward and the Summerfield and All Saints ward seats will instead be decided by a process of co-opting, which sees existing councillors select a replacement, after not enough residents requested a formal vote.

The seats had previously been held by husband and wife Conservative duo Brian and Norma Bacon.

Co-opting members onto the town council had become a controversial process in Burntwood in recent years.

Unwritten rules usually see the party which held the seat allowed to co-opt a new member from their own ranks.

But two years ago the Conservatives [were accused of carrying out “a disgraceful action”](//lichfieldlive.co.uk/2017/05/19/decision-to-appoint-conservative-to-burntwood-town-council-branded-a-disgraceful-action-by-labour-councillor/) when they put up Norma Bacon to fill the gap left by the resignation of a Labour councillor. She won the vote and went on to become council leader just weeks later.

That move led to Labour returning the favour and forcing a full by-election vote – [which they won](//lichfieldlive.co.uk/2017/08/16/new-burntwood-labour-councillor-says-by-election-win-gives-him-more-legitimacy-than-if-hed-been-co-opted/) – when a Conservative member stood down.

Councillors will make a formal decision on who to co-opt into the current vacancies at a meeting on 28th November.