Eight Stafford councillors face automatic disqualification unless attendance rule is relaxed
Eight Stafford Borough councillors face the boot from the authority next month unless a meeting attendance rule is relaxed.
Under current rules, a borough councillor is automatically disqualified from the authority if they do not attend at least one meeting every six months.
But the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown measures put in place by the Government in March led to several Stafford Borough Council meetings being cancelled.
Council leader Patrick Farrington said: “During this crisis many of our councillors from across the political spectrum have been the first port of call for vulnerable, isolated and worried residents.
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“Some have been hands-on – for example delivering groceries and provisions – others have organised help on a range of issues or signposted residents to where they can receive support.
“This was also against a backdrop where a number of our council members had to follow government guidance and self-isolate because they were in a high-risk category.”
A number of council committees, such as cabinet and planning, have now moved online and meetings have been taking place virtually.
By-elections
But councillors who are not members of these committees will not have been able to attend a meeting since February 25 – the date of the last full council meeting – or March 3, which was when the most recent community wellbeing scrutiny committee session was held, meaning they would face automatic disqualification for non-attendance in late August or early September.
By-elections would then be needed to fill the vacant positions.
An extraordinary full council meeting will be held virtually, via video conferencing service Zoom, on Tuesday, July 28, to consider a waiver of the six-month attendance rule. Councillors will be asked to agree for the rule to be waived until October 31.
A council report said: “Section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972 states that ‘if a member of a local authority fails throughout a period of six consecutive months from the date of his last attendance to attend any meeting of the authority, he shall, unless the failure was due to some reason approved by the authority before the expiry of that period, cease to be a member of the authority’.
“The current Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the cancellation of the normal schedule of formal meetings. Although the holding of many meetings has now resumed, through the use of remote video technology, it is not anticipated that all previously cancelled meetings will be re-instated before at least the end of September 2020.
“The last full council meeting was held on February 25. This means that most members will have needed to attend another meeting by 25 August at the latest. In fact, there is one member whose last meeting was actually February 11, meaning they would need to attend another meeting by August 11.
“For those members whose meetings have not been re-instated by that time, there will not, therefore, be an opportunity for them to attend a formal meeting within six months of their last meeting. There is also the ongoing risk that illness may prevent a member from attending a future meeting, even if one is arranged in time.
