Councillors

Councillors, elected officials meant to represent their constituency in Council Meetings and on the political platform in general, but are they?

According to the Lancashire Evening Post, local Council leader Coun Ken Hudson holds a view that “No-show city councillors do not deserve to sit on the authority”

Coun Peter Rankin (the Labour councillor for Tulketh), who has attended only 46% of his meetings, said that the reason for his lack of attendance could be attributed to
1) A PACT meeting held on the same date as a council meeting, which he said constituted a meeting for the local community.
2) The fact he had already booked his holiday dates before he was elected at a by-election in February
3) And finally, he claims that having been on the council for a few months, he knows what meeting are important and what aren’t.

But are these reasons good enough for not turning up to council meetings? Surely all meetings in relation to the local council are important to the people that he represents.

Are our local councillors really representing us?
Considering 4 of our local councillors have an attendance record of below 70%, it seems not.

(All quotes and statistics are from the Lancashire Evening Post, Friday September 26th 2008)