FOLLOWING Saskia Harrison resignation from Ross-on-Wye Town Council, members have vowed to issue polling cards should a by-election be called.

The clerk to the council stated that at least 10 members of the public needed to request that a by-election should be held in the Ross West ward before matters are taken forward.

The clerk told members that the cost of holding two by-elections last year amounted to an expense of £11,613 without producing polling cards, the absence of which sparked a big debate locally.

In a rough calculation of holding a by-election in just one ward would be approximately £5,600 and the cost of printing polling cards would amount to an expenditure of £5,185, making an estimated cost by-election expenditure of £10,785.

Cllr Julian Utting pointed out that if a by-election is held in the coming months, the winning recipient would only be in office for around nine months before the whole council is up for re-election in May 2027.

Cllr Ed O’Driscoll said: “This council agreed following the last by-election in August last year that in future we would issue polling cards to avoid any confusion.”

Mayor Cllr Sarah Freer said: “In clarification should an election be called by more than ten members of the public, there would be a by-election.

“If fewer than ten people request an election, it gives this council the opportunity to co-opt a new councillor.”

Cllr Louis Stark said that another option was available and added: “Being as we are so close, ie within a year, of the whole council being re-elected we could choose not to do anything.”

In her resignation Ms Harrison said that it hadn’t been an easy decision to make because serving the local community has been a genuine privilege but cited that in her experience that it had been an incredibly difficult environment to work in as a volunteer.