News

Councillors missed 122 meetings in 18-month period

By Tim Harris
December 31, 2012

COUNCILLORS for Aldershot and Farnborough have missed more than 120 meetings they were required to attend in the last 18 months.

Recent figures show the 39 ward councillors for Rushmoor Borough Council were absent for 122 meetings between June 2011 and November.

The figures, obtained by the News & Mail through a Freedom of Information request, revealed that some councillors’ absences breached double figures over this period.

The councillor who missed the most meetings was Alan Chainey, who represents the Cove and Southwood ward. Cllr Chainey missed 18 meetings.

He said: “The last year has been chaos for me, work has been very difficult. I do find it disappointing when I have to miss meetings. I would like to go to every meeting but unfortunately that is not possible. Unfortunately some of us are not retired and cannot spend our entire lives at the council.”

Cllr Chainey insisted his residents do not miss out because he carries out ward work and often holds councillor surgeries.

Missing the second highest number of meetings was Empress councillor Brian Parker, with 13 absences.

While Cllr Parker’s number of missed meetings reached double figures, he underlined the fact he has received treatment in multiple hospitals this year, including having a heart operation in Southampton.

“The council know that if I had been well I would have been at the meetings,” he said. “I was disappointed. It is not because I didn’t want to go, it is just health comes first.”

In joint third place for the most meetings missed was Manor Park councillor Ron Hughes and Ken Muschamp, who represents Fernhill. Both men missed seven meetings.

Cllr Muschamp said: “We all have lives and a number of us work full-time. It is all very well for those retired ones. I know I make every effort to get to meetings.”

Cllr Hughes said the reason behind his absences was down to trips to America, to visit and babysit his grandchildren. “I do not normally miss meetings, I would break legs to get there,” he said. “It does not look good if I start missing meetings. I think all the officers at Rushmoor know very well I would move heaven and earth to get to meetings.”

Some councillors did not miss a single meeting over the 18 month period, including councillors Keith Dibble, Mike Roberts, Steve Smith and deputy leader Roland Dibbs.

Councillors Rod Cooper, Liz Corps and Barry Jones have also not missed a meeting, although they were only elected as ward councillors in May.

Cllr Smith said: “I think it is our duty to attend all the meetings. What is the point of being a councillor and being asked to go to meetings if you are not going to go?”

An even greater number of meetings were missed by councillors at Hart District Council over a similar period. Between the 35 district councillors for Hart a total of 217 meetings were missed between May 2011 and October 2012.

These figures, also obtained by the News & Mail under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed seven councillors missed meetings in double figures.

Only one Hart councillor had not missed a single meeting in that period.

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PJA

You might want to have a read of “The Good Councillor’s Guide” Which states:

“What if you cannot attend? Remember, you have a duty to attend but sometimes things crop up and you are unable to make it. You must contact the clerk with an apology and explanation. A darts match is not an adequate excuse whereas illness or work commitments are acceptable reasons. If you fail to attend any meetings for six months, before the end of this period you must ask the council to approve your reason for continued non-attendance. Without formal council approval, you are disqualified; you cease to be a councillor.”

While I agree that if you stand and are elected you must try and attend most meetings, to expect someone to attend ALL meetings over the 5 year term that a Councillor servers is un-realistic. After all anyone can become ill, also if you are in employment you entitled to at least 20 days a year paid holiday and if you are going away for a week or two you would not be able to addend meetings during that period. As there are council meetings (of one sort or another) most weeks it is very unlikely that you could be away for two weeks without missing at least one meeting, or based on the current meeting schedule you could miss as many as 7 meetings (depending on which committees you sit on).

Dawi, Aldershot
07/01/2013 at 21:44

I don't know anyone that could hold a full time job and attend those meetings at the times stated by Dawi consistently over a year. So unless you want the job carried out only by rich people that don't need a job or the retired then we are going to have to cut them some slack.We all know that we need some people that do a job and live in the community on the council.

SpongeBob NoPants, Farnborough
07/01/2013 at 15:48

Thats the trouble with our councilliors they get voted in knowing that they have to go to meetings and do work in their community, but when it becomes a problem to make the meetings that they are suppose to do - they are unable to get their.

This is the very reason why our towns in this borough are in a state because many of the councilliors are not aware of problems because they cannot even make the meetings.

If they cannot do their job that they get voted in by the public then stand down and let some one else do the job!

PJA
07/01/2013 at 14:53

@PJA: I guess some people want to help out in the community some way. I have met a few “professional do-gooders” and found them to be totally out of touch with reality and an absolute menace! I would much prefer to have an “average Joe” even if it means that they can’t attend every meeting at all times of day and night.

Hector
07/01/2013 at 12:36

The councillor who missed the most meetings was Alan Chainey, who represents the Cove and Southwood ward. Cllr Chainey missed 18 meetings. He said: “The last year has been chaos for me, work has been very difficult. I do find it disappointing when I have to miss meetings. I would like to go to every meeting but unfortunately that is not possible. Unfortunately some of us are not retired and cannot spend our entire lives at the council.”

my answer is why stand for council in first place if you cannot do the job?

PJA
07/01/2013 at 07:46

BlisteringBarnacles!, it gets more interesting as I’ve just been looking at the meetings calendar for RBC. They are now showing 12 meetings per month: Development Control Committee - 2 January 2013 Cabinet - 8 January 2013 Licensing Sub-Committee (Alcohol and Entertainments) - 10 January 2013 Leisure and Youth Policy and Review Panel - 14 January 2013 Corporate Services Policy and Review Panel - 17 January 2013 Borough Services Policy and Review Panel - 21 January 2013 Licensing Sub-Committee (Alcohol and Entertainments) - 22 January 2013 Environment Policy and Review Panel - 22 January 2013 Special Council - 23 January 2013 Community Policy and Review Panel - 24 January 2013 Licensing and General Purposes Committee - 28 January 2013 Cabinet - 29 January 2013 Development Control Committee - 30 January 2013

Licensing meetings start at 10am, Cabinet meetings start at 4:30pm, all others seem to start at 7pm

Dawi, Aldershot
05/01/2013 at 18:15

Thank you Dawi. It should make for interesting reading.

BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough
05/01/2013 at 12:43

BlisteringBarnacles!

You can find out the broad duties of Local Councillors on the following link if you are interested.

http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=need.copy&id=43007

Dawi, Aldershot
05/01/2013 at 12:06

I've obviously misunderstood the role and duties of a councillor. I had in mind that they were more like MPs than volunteers pure and simple.

BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough
05/01/2013 at 11:47

As has already been said: there is scant information in the article to make a judgement; I’m sure even Blistering Barnacles would agree that it be more important for Councillor Parker to have his triple heart bypass than attend a meeting to discuss the viability of a shrew crossing or other pointless waste of public funds. As with all voluntary work, you have to accept that people give their time for free and don’t deserve to be chastised by people who do nothing. I personally think it is a good thing to have people in these positions that have a life separate from the council meeting.

Hector
04/01/2013 at 12:48

BlisteringBarnacles! “Are you saying that isn't a problem?”.

I’m saying that it may or may not be, it all depends on the background which isn’t given in the raw figures or a comparison of missed meetings for a preceding period. There may be reasons why a person is unable to attend a number of meetings in one year.

Let’s look at an example from the article; Councilor Parker was singled out as the second highest missed meetings at 13 (and no I don’t know or have any connection with Councilor Parker). The article does point out “he underlined the fact he has received treatment in multiple hospitals this year, including having a heart operation in Southampton.”

We do not know how long Councilor Parker has served as a Counselor, how many sub-committees he sits on or what his track record has been for attending meetings in previous periods if he has served as a Councilor before this term.

Unless Councilor Parker is not going to be fit to return to duty then that shouldn’t be a problem, however if his doctors advise him not to return then that would be a problem and he should stand down.

As I’ve said without the background and comparisons/history the figures are meaningless.

Dawi, Aldershot
03/01/2013 at 18:55

Yes it does matter Dawi. I understand what you're saying that there needs to be greater background than just raw figures because as you've pointed out, it's not all that clear which particular types of meetings this report refers to.

But if your own figures are right, then the councillor who missed 18 out of the 90 meetings has effectively missed 1 in every 5 meetings. Are you saying that isn't a problem?

BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough
03/01/2013 at 00:08

On their own the figures quoted don’t mean a lot. Perhaps it would have been better if the figures had been quoted for a 12 month period rather than an 18 month period, and also given as a percentage of the total number of meetings the councillor could have attended.

Furthermore as I understand it there are full council meetings, but there are also sub-committee meetings. No indication is given in the report as to whether the figures quoted refer only to full council meetings or to all council meetings which makes the figures quoted even more worthless.

Having had a look at the council meetings calendar on RBC’s web site, it seems that there are 5 council meetings per month. 1 full council meeting per month and 4 sub-committee meetings per month (which over an 18 month period works out at a total of 90 meetings).

If a councillor sits on no sub-committees and misses all (or most) full council meetings then yes there is something wrong and they should step down, as they are clearly unable to fulfil their obligation to represent the people who elected them, however if a councillor sits on all committees and missed 18 meetings out of 90 i.e. 1 per month is that really a problem

As I said earlier without knowing the basis for the figures quoted in the article the figures are meaningless and worthless.

Dawi, Aldershot
31/12/2012 at 17:03

@ BlisteringBarnacles! If your other job has higher priority than your public service. While I agree with the tone of your post, the other job as you put it, it must be remembered that the other job is the main job that pays the bills and if not re-elected that main job will continue to support the councillor and their family. It is also worth noteing that being a councillor is not a waged position and that only expences are paid. Lord help me I am standing up for councillors

UKR
31/12/2012 at 15:44

It's worth remembering that many of these misses may have been done before the last election. However... If your other job has higher priority than your public service, or if your ill health is disrupting your normal life, or if you'd rather take holidays to America then do so, but please stand down from the council and let somebody who can be more committed have the chance to be elected. I don't think anyone would expect 100% attendance but nobody should be consistently missing meetings.