Two Hartlepool Councillors have managed to rack up just the bare minimum level of attendance to council meetings, raising questions over their value for money for the local tax payer & whether they should be asked to stand down...
Thursday 15th December 2022 08:25am
Two Hartlepool councillors have managed to rack up some of the worst attendance records only managing to attend just two six monthly statutory meetings as required to do so before their position would then be put back out to the public for election….
Two Conservative Councillors trousering £8k in allowances & only managing to attend two full council meetings every year... the bare minimum required to keep their £8k allowance
Its prompting calls for Conservatives Councillor John Leedham representing the towns Hart Ward & Manor House Conservative Councillor Henry Ashton to stand down their roles following claims they’re failing to do even the most basic level of work as an elected representative other than to ensure that they keep their £8k worth of allowances by ensuring their bare minimum attendance to the local council is maintained..
Out of six full council meetings Hart ward councillor John Leedham could have attended, he only managed to turn up for just TWO of them, with Manor House Councillor Henry Ashton managing just the same poor level of attendance.
In contrast, many of the towns councillors managed to maintain a significantly “good” level of attendance, with the two Conservative councillors being called upon to either start & place more significance on the responsibilities they’ve been bestowed upon through their democratically elected roles for the council or face potentially being removed from their roles when they come up for election again in the future.
Members of the public should have the power to recall councillors who fail to put in the work required & force a By-Election
Calls are being made for powers to "sack" councillors who simply want the allowance, but fail to do any work in for their community
The Local Government Act 1972 states that when a Council Member fails to attend any meeting for six consecutive months from the date of his last attendance, he or she ceases to be a member of the authority, the only exception in this case would be if the Council accepts a genuine reason for the failure to attend before the six month period expires.
Mr Leedham’s council seat is not due up for election again until 2026, with Manor Houses Mr Aston sat comfortably trousering his £8k allowances until 2024, where in the current economic climate, Labour realistically would see little effort in removing those councillors from their roles if they were found to be up for election sooner, with Mr Ashton deemed to be the ultimate example of a Paper Candidate councillor who simply "got lucky" when he was elected & now spends the majority of his time studying politics at Durham university funded primarily from the money he retains as an elected councillor for Hartlepool.
Lets just hope Durham University educates him in the lesson of good attendance !
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