A PARISH council wants to increase how many councillors represent its community.

Little Totham Parish Council has written to Maldon District Council requesting permission to have two more councillor positions installed in their parish.

At the parish council’s last meeting they passed a motion to request the district council to conduct a parish review to increase their minimum number of councillors from five to seven.

The electorate for Little Totham stands at 329. Many other parishes in the Maldon district, including Stow Maries, North Fambridge, Great Braxted and Steeple, have five councillors.

Richard Siddall, parish council chairman, highlighted several reasons why the number should be increased.

In his letter to the council, he wrote: “The number of councillors has not increased since the 1960s and we are at the minimum legal size for a council. The village has at least doubled in size since the 1960s.

“If a councillor resigns, the council would be immediately below the legal minimum. This gives the council no buffer and results in having to seek and co-opt a new councillor in a more pressurised situation.

“The parish council needs to increase the number of councillors so that it can manage an increasing workload. We are implementing several plans which include traffic initiatives, and managing and planning the long term conservation of the village open spaces, including the 55 acre Totham Plains.”

Mr Siddall also stated that many councillors of the parish are retired and elderly meaning they are less physically active and have difficulty carrying out council work, and that the National Association of Local Councils suggests the minimum number should be seven.

The issue is set to be debated by councillors at a full council meeting on Thursday.

The agenda for the meeting also states that the Little Totham community has become very active in parish issues, with five residents interested in becoming councillors.

To increase the number, the district council needs to carry out a community governance review, which officers have recommended to proceed.