Waltham Forest (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Opposition parties accuse Waltham Forest Council of “bending the rules” after it declined to disqualify a councillor absent from meetings for six months.
Tom Connor, a sitting independent councillor for the High Street ward, missed six months of council sessions starting on March 25.
Section 85 of the Original Government Act 1972 states that if a council member misses six successive months of sanctioned council or commission meetings, they will no longer be eligible to hold office.
In a letter to Mark Hynes, the council’s monitoring officer, on October 25, Waltham Forest Tory leader and Endlebury ward councillor Emma Best declared that the conditions for a by- election had been fulfilled.
However, Hynes stated in an email obtained by the Echo that Cllr. Connor was permitted to retain his seat because he had participated in “informal meetings” over that six-month period, such as ward panel sessions and councillor surgeries.
According to Hynes, the council has been interpreting section 85 in a “liberal” rather than a rigid manner since 2021. After an unidentified council member missed six months of formal council sessions that year, the council sought legal counsel from a Queen’s Counsel attorney, according to Hynes.
At the time, the attorney had suggested that the council broaden its understanding of the statute to cover attendance at meetings to which a council member has been invited in their official role.
According to Hynes, a precedent was made for Cllr. Connor to keep his seat because the anonymous councillor in 2021 was not expelled from office because he had attended such meetings.
A council spokesperson said:
“It is quite right that the public expects councillors to attend council meetings as their local representative. The council’s position is that we would wish to avoid any ambiguity by all members attending formal council or committee meetings during any six-month period.
However, following advice from Queens Counsel in 2021, Waltham Forest takes a wide approach to the interpretation of the Local Government Act 1972, Section 85 (1 and 2), to give members every legitimate opportunity to preserve their qualification as a councillor.
Therefore, attendance by a councillor at ward panels, ward surgeries, and other meetings with officers would meet the legal test of a ‘qualifying meeting’ at which the councillor has presented as a representative of the council. This advice, which was first received in 2021, continues to be the approach of the council.”
What are the legal grounds for disqualifying a councillor for nonattendance?
Still, they automatically cease to be a member of that authority, If a councillor fails to attend any council meeting for six successive months from the date of their last attendance. This automatic disqualification applies unless the councillor’s absence is approved by the council before the six- month period expires.
Approval for nonattendance can be grounded on any reason the council considers valid, although the Act doesn’t specify what those reasons must be. The councillor isn’t obliged by law to seek a similar approval, but it’s considered good practice to do so to avoid disqualification.
These vittles aim to insure that councillors laboriously share in governance, and give inflexibility for unlooked-for circumstances leading to absence, as long as the council warrants before the six- month deadline.