Normally there would be a meeting of Hedge End Town Council Highways and Planning on the first Wednesday of the month. The May 4th meeting has been cancelled. This is a shame as it would have been the last meeting under the chairmanship of Cllr Sally Lloyds who is not seeking re-election. Sally has been a conscientious and hard working town councillor, is a past chair of the council and a strong advocate for the HEWEB Youth Council.
It's a pity that the other seven Lib Dems on the committee could not drag themselves away from party political activities for a few minutes on the eve of the election to mark her last meeting.
This follows the April full council meeting from which ten of the seventeen Lib Dem town councillors stayed away. Twelve Lib Dems are being re-elected unopposed tomorrow, so it's not as if they have got a tough battle to hold on to their seats. Is it too much to ask that they turn up for meetings of the body to which they are asking to be elected?
Another pertinent post on the lack of application by our representatives.
ReplyDeleteTaking the lead from your last post on the subject we have been crunching the published member’s attendance figures over the past year for ‘Eastleigh News’.
We found out of 44 councillors only three managed 100%. The overall absence rate is 20%. (In the private sector it is 4%.)
Councillors were paid average allowances of £8,000 – this equates to £350 per meeting whether or not they actually attend them.
The lowest attendance figure for a Hedge End Councillor is 47%.
It is not just attendances at the meetings but also their duration that is concerning.
I’m sure the Public would be as gobsmacked as I was to see 100+ pages of agenda and documents detailing thousands of pounds worth of spending whipped through (literally)in under 15 minutes with no discussion or debate.
I was not surprised the cabinet vetoed my suggestion – kindly presented by Steve Holes - for the installation of cctv to film proceedings as recommended by the Dept of Communities.
Good luck today.
Kick ass ;)