Are our District Councillors attending meetings?

I thought I would see how the District Councillors we send from St Neots are doing at attending HDC meetings. On the whole they put in good attendance. You can check here.

Whilst Cllrs Farrer and Ursell are a few meetings short, the District Councillor who stands out like a sore thumb is Cllr Mandy Thomas. Only 1 meeting out of 9. This isn't good. There may be very good reason why Mandy isn't attending meetings. Her attendance, in the past, isn't that good.

But here is the crux. Mandy attended the meeting of OSP Economic Well-being on 15th July 2010. I don't know if Mandy attended the meeting of 9/12/10. If she didn't then she may fall foul of the 1972 act.

According to Section 85 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972: “If a member of a local authority fails throughout a period of six consecutive months from the date of his last attendance to attend any meeting of the authority, he shall, unless the failure was due to some reasons approved before the expiry of that period, cease to be a member of the authority.”

Unless Mandy turns up to the next OSP Economic Well-being on 13th January 2011 then there will be a by-election.

If Mandy fulfills her basic duties and does attend, there does remain the question over her attendances. With so few attendances I have to ask why are we paying Mandy to continue to be a Councillor. She is elected until May 2012. But the Conservatives are carrying her. St Neots needs representatives at Council. Not an absent one. Mandy should resign her seat and a by-election can be held at the local elections in May 2011.