A Councillor who is absent from all meetings of the Council and any committees of which they are a member for a period of six months automatically ceases to be a member of the Council unless they have been given leave of absence by the Council before the expiry of that six month period – s.85 Local Government Act 1972
Havering’s 55 councillors must attend committees1 at least once every six months. Failure to attend means they lose their seats. (Councillors don’t lose their seats if they ignore their constituents.)
Councillors usually have legitimate reasons for missing meetings, which are accepted without challenge. In brief, they’re always given the benefit of the doubt.
Full attendance need not be onerous. John Tyler, Jacqueline Williams and John Wood attended four meetings each in six months for a 100% attendance record. Full attendance is the target but less than 50% needs explaining.
How did Havering’s councillors do?
Thirteen had full attendance. All parties are represented – seven HRA, three Conservatives, and one each East Havering RA, Independent and Labour. Just three out of nine cabinet members had full attendance.
Six councillors attended for 50% or less – four Conservatives2 and two HRA. The worst attender is Sue Ospreay, HRA, with a shocking 28.6%. This implies incapacity or malaise. Either way HRA should get a grip to resolve this affront to democracy.3
The least the electorate expect is that councillors ‘turn up’. 50% attendance or less is a disgrace without exceptional circumstances.
Notes
1 Councillors attendance summary, 1 August 2023 – 24 January 2024 | The London Borough Of Havering Data base accessed 25th January 2024
2 Robby Misir has defected to HRA. He’s currently got a 50% attendance rate presumably it will improve with his new colleagues.
3 Perhaps the problem is that Havering has too many councillors? See Does Havering have too many councillors? – Politics in Havering
Politics in Havering 