PEOPLE who are elected onto Skipton Town Council may underestimate the challenge of the task, say councillors.

Councillors were responding last week after learning at a meeting of the full council that a by-election was to be held in November following the resignation of one of their 16 colleagues, Cllr Malcolm Courcier.

It was also thought that a second member may also resign soon meaning that the council could be faced with a second costly by-election in a matter of months Cllr Courcier, who represented Skipton North, was among those criticised at a meeting in May for their attendance record.

The attendance record for the previous year had shown that Cllr Courcier had attended one of the 13 meetings he had been required to attend, although he had been present at the full meeting in May. Former mayor, Cllr Rick Judge, had attended two of the 23 meetings he had been required to attend. Cllr Judge did not attend last week's meeting, or give his apologies, meaning he was recorded as 'absent'.

Last Thursday's meeting, held in North Yorkshire Council offices in Belle Vue Square, was told the cost of a by-election, which takes place if at least ten parishioners call for one to take place, will be around £6,500. If a by-election had not been triggered, a new councillor would have been co-opted.

It would not be possible however to hold two by-elections on the same day as the other, unnamed, councillor had not yet resigned and had not gone six months without attending a meeting without an acceptable excuse.

Councillor Peter Madeley said councillors bore a responsibility to attend meetings or to give their apologies if they were not able to attend.

He added there had been some meetings where not enough members had attended for them to be quorate (the required number for the meeting to proceed) and he hoped new members would 'bother to turn up'.

He also made a plea that political parties did not put pressure on people to stand.

Cllr Stephen Morton asked if it would be possible to have two by-elections at the same time to save the council money, but was told that would not be possible as the other unnamed councillor had not resigned or had been marked 'absent' for six months.

In response to Cllr Brian McDaid saying he thought sometimes the role of being a councillor 'was not what people expected', chief officer Louise Close said those seeking election were given a welcome pack which was in reality a 'job description'.