Elections cancelled in Bishop's Castle

From the Shropshire Star:

Elections have been cancelled in a Shropshire town – after the mayor and another long-serving member declined to put themselves forward as candidates again. 

Keith Pinches, who has worn the chains in Bishop’s Castle for the past four years, and the town’s longest-serving councillor Dr St John Penney – who has been a member of Bishop’s Castle Town Council for 46 years – have decided not to stand again. 

The remaining 10 candidates will now be co-opted onto the council without the need for a public vote. An election had been pencilled in for May 2 if there had been enough candidates standing but it has now been cancelled.

It was not like this in the 17th century: then Bishop's Castle was a notorious rotten borough and the selling of their votes was the chief source of income of many townspeople.