The leader of Cornwall Council says that the government needs to decide now whether local elections can take place in May.

The option could be there for an election entirely done by postal vote, but this would present a considerable extra cost for the local authority which it has not budgeted for, said Cllr Julian German.

Preparations are being made for polling stations to open on May 6, but there are concerns that things could be delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and current restrictions.

The latest a decision can be made by the Government is March 29.

In Cornwall there are set to be elections for all 87 seats at the newly slimmed down Cornwall Council; a number of town and parish council elections; elections for the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner (delayed from last year); and a number of referendums on neighbourhood development plans.

The Government has stated that at present it plans to press ahead with the elections.

However Cllr German has called for a decision to be made now or at least to know when the decision will be taken.

“If it is going to be May we need to understand the implications of that, such as higher than usual levels of postal voting.

“Canvassing isn’t something that the police are saying is allowed to be done at the moment – in other places people have been fined for canvassing.

“We need to know how we can reach residents and how all candidates can reach residents and have a fair and open election.”

However Cllr German said that there was a balance to be struck around the holding of the elections in May.

He said: “It is imperative that we can hold these elections safely, but also that we can hold them fairly.”

Cllr German warned that with work already underway preparing for the election there could be costs to the council if it is decided to delay polling day.

He said that the Local Government Association had already been pressing the Government for more clarity.

The council leader said: “If there is a delay there will be abortive costs and we, and the local government family, will be looking for recompense for those costs.”

Councillor John Fitter asked Cllr German what the latest date was for the Government to make a decision.

Cllr German said: “The latest possible date the Government can make a decision is March 29, but that would be extremely late.

“People would have already had leaflets printed for the election and activity would have started and councils would have incurred costs to host the election.

By Richard Whitehouse, local democracy reporter