Councillors no longer have to make their home address public
COUNCILLORS won’t have their home address published on the websites of Swansea and Carmarthenshire councils after May’s local government elections in a move breaking with tradition.
Swansea Council said its web page would instead show an office address for a councillor, an email and phone number. Carmarthenshire Council said it would provide an email address for each councillor.
Ahead of the May 5 elections, prospective councillors can, for the first time, withhold their home address so that it does not appear on the ballot paper.
Tony Fitzgerald, chairman of Swansea group Independents@swansea, said this was because of security issues and the potential vulnerability of candidates should their home address become public.
He said the address given on the ballot paper and statement of persons nominated for a candidate who withheld their address would just be the county or borough council area they lived in.
Mr Fitzgerald said he understood some candidates might be concerned that their address was readily available, but he feared large political parties could take advantage of the new arrangements by “parachuting” candidates in from outside areas. In his view, the address should show the ward or community a candidate lived in at the least.
“Electors want to vote for a local candidate, not just for someone who lives somewhere in the greater authority area, so need to know at a minimum the ward in which the candidate resides,” he said.
The Electoral Commission has confirmed the new system giving candidates the address-withholding option at election time.
A spokesman for Swansea Council, when asked what contact information it would disclose about a councillor after the election, said: “Legislation states that we must not publish the home address of councillors, online or elsewhere.
“However, the council’s web page will display a correspondence address which will be an office in the Guildhall, a councillor’s email address and telephone number.”
Carmarthenshire Council said a carmarthenshire.gov.uk email address would be published for each councillor but no home addresses.
Councillor Rob Stewart, the leader of Swansea Council, said: “Unfortunately, councillors and candidates are often subject to intimidation, personal attacks, threats and abuse, which is not only unacceptable but undermines the principles of free speech and debate.”