About Shinfield Parish Council

Shinfield Parish is divided into five wards, which have different numbers of councillors according to the size of the electorate.

The Chair and Vice-Chair of the council are elected annually, by the members, at the Annual Meeting of the Council, held in May.

Members of Shinfield Parish Council are not paid an attendance allowance but can claim travel expenses for journeys outside of the parish to attend events such as training or conferences.

Parish Council By Elections

As Shinfield Parish Council has not had any by-elections for some time (approx. 40 years) a brief explanation of the process is given below:-

Upon notification of a councillor vacancy, Shinfield Parish Council (SPC) informs Wokingham Borough Council, who then advertises the vacancy.  A by-election is only triggered if ten or more residents request it and this is what has happened this year. If fewer than 10 people make such a request then SPC can fill the vacancy by a process called ‘co-option’ which is how we normally fill vacancies.

SPC has held a reserve of £8,000 in case a by-election arose so there is no immediate impact on our budgets. However, this reserve will need to be topped up in case there are future by-elections. 

Residents in the Shinfield North and Grazeley wards of Shinfield Parish were issued with polling cards to vote in the by-election on 11.12.25 for their preferred councillor. 

For more information, visit Wokingham Borough Council elections webpage – Current elections