A Conservative councillor faces calls to resign after only attending half of his committee meetings.
Priyen Patel, councillor for the St James ward, has only attended seven of his 16 Kingston Council meetings – the lowest average of any of the borough’s politicians.
The opposing Liberal Democrat Party has said the record “makes a mockery” of the post and that he should resign from the party.
Mr Patel, who sits on two committees, has refused to comment.
The Lib Dems have pointed to powers introduced by the Conservative-controlled council to sack bad councillors over issues such as attendance.
Mr Patel’s failure to attend four of his five neighbourhood committee meetings this year, means he falls under the criteria to be sacked.
Lib Dem Leader Liz Green said: “We now expect the Conservative leader to take action as he was very clear in his speech that our residents deserve Councillors who will undertake the role to which they have been elected.
“Now one of his own Group falls below this standard, he surely has to ask for Cllr Patel’s resignation?
“Personally, I think the Conservatives should do the right thing and Councillor Patel should resign otherwise it just makes a mockery of the Recall system that Councillor Kevin Davis introduced.”
According to the legislation, a council monitoring officer can consider whether to launch a petition for a councillor to resign if he/she has over the municipal year:
- An overall attendance below 20 per cent
- Attended less than two full council or neighbourhood committee meetings
- Been convicted of a crime
- Moved outside Kingston
If such a petition was set up, more than 33 per cent of electors in the councillor’s ward would have to sign for a by-election to be triggered.
Council leader Kevin Davis said: “The whole point of recall is that it takes the issue away from Councillors and political parties playing petty political points and leaves it to residents to decide.
“As it happens I have always believed that attendance at meetings never really indicates anything about how hard a Councillor works as there are plenty of Lib Dem Councillors whose attendance records are not great but I am sure they work tremendously hard for their residents in other ways.
“From what I hear Cllr Patel is a well-liked Councillor who works hard for his constituents, but that is a matter for him and the residents of St James ward."
They work for you. So what is the attendance record of your ward councillors this year?*
Table One
Table Two
Table Three
Table Four
*All attendence records correct from the first annual council meeting on May 12, 2016 to March 27, 2017
- Got a story? Call the newsdesk on 020 8722 6315 or send an email to jonathan.mitchell@london.newsquest.co.uk
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