Meeting times

"do not favour

younger councillors"

A welcome addition to Boston Borough Council’s website is the appearance of an attendance record – something that we have been urging for many years.

In the past, we have had misgivings about how often some of our representatives could be bothered to pitch up to meetings – but apart from laboriously sifting through the minutes … some of which were not always available … it was impossible to find out.
Now, we can see how each individual councillor is carrying out his or her public duties.
The list begins with the first council meeting of the newly elected authority on 23rd May, and so to date covers around a third of the first administration’s session.
The number of meetings which it is possible for councillors to attend varies, of course, depending on their responsibilities – and it pleasing to see that fourteen of our 32 councillors managed a 100% record – although it is much less than half the total … just under 44%.
But enough councillors were only one short of the possible maximum attendance to make any criticism pointless.
"Full house” attendees were:
For the Tories - Leader Peter Bedford, Maureen Dennis, Yvonne Gunter, Paul Mould, Frank Pickett, Derek Richmond, Gurdip Samra, Raymond Singleton-McGuire, Judith Skinner and Mayor Mary Wright
For Labour: Leader Paul Kenny, Paul Gleeson and Paul Goodale.
Independent: Carol Taylor.
The list includes cancelled meetings, or those where councillors were not required to attend - so we have ignored those as part of our tally. Aside from attendances, it also lists occasions when apologies were sent, as well as  meetings where a councillor “did not attend” - which we take to mean that no apology for absence was sent.
As with all such lists, someone has to come last – and in this case it is Conservative Councillor Aaron Spencer, who out of eight meetings, attended three, sent apologies to four and did not attend one further meeting.
His record is far and away the worst – and is particularly disappointing coming from such a young councillor - who was 19 when elected last May.
But it appears that age could be a contributing factor.
Councillor Spencer told Boston Eye: “I am, naturally, disappointedly aware that my attendance record is lower that other members of Boston Borough Council.
"Perhaps this should be viewed in the context of my age - I am the second youngest councillor in the UK.
"Whilst that does not mean I am using this to abdicate my responsibilities to the electorate, you will appreciate that it is perhaps easier for retired or semi-retired - or indeed for people who have their own business - to attend during the working day.
“This issue has already been raised by Independent Councillor Brian Rush.  At full council he voiced concern that if the 'council' wished to attract younger members then the timing of meeting needs to be examined. As you can appreciate taking time out of full time work to attend meeting is not always possible, that's why I resigned from Planning." **
“My contribution is always robust, I always vote in a way that I passionately believe to be in the best interests of the electorate, rather than for political posturing.
“I endeavour to contribute to the community in a modest way outside of the usual working day, for example at the recent fundraising event at Algakirk Fete, as well as other gigs that I do with my band for the community.
“So in conclusion I would say, sure, I haven’t attended as many meetings as I perhaps should have, but it's only because the system at the moment does not allow a young working councillor such as myself get to them.”
The full list of councillors and their attendance is as follows …
Conservatives: Mark Baker attended 4, sent apologies to 2, did not attend 1. Peter Bedford 6 out of 6. Michael Brookes 8 out of 9. Colin Brotherton 12 out of 13. Maureen Dennis 9 out of 9. Mike Gilbert 8 out of 9. Yvonne Gunter 11 out of 11. James Knowles 5 out of 6. Paul Mould 10 out of 10. Frank Pickett 11 out of 11. Derek Richmond 10 out of 10. Gurdip Samra 7 out of 7. Raymond Singleton-McGuire 7 out of 7. Judith Skinner 7 out of 7. Gloria Smith 8 out of 9. Aaron Spencer Attended 3, apologies, 4, did not attend, 1. Stephen Woodliffe 7, did not attend 1. Mary Wright 8 out of 8.
Labour: Paul Gleeson 9 out of 9. Paul Goodale 9 out of 9. Paul Kenny 7 out of 7.
BDI: Alison Austin 6 out of 7. Richard Austin 8 out of 9. Helen Staples 5 out of 7. David Witts 4 out of 7.
Independent: Alan Lee 5 out of 6. Richard Leggott 4, apologies 2. Brian Rush 9 did not attend 1. Ossy Snell 6 out of 7. Carol Taylor 5 out of 5.
English Democrat: Elliott Fountain 7, did not attend 1. David Owens 5, did not attend 2.

** Planning Committee meetings recently moved  from a 6-30pm start under the previous administration to 2pm when the Tories arrived. Aside from making it difficult for Councillor Spencer to attend, it also rules out almost any public participation. We have also heard that at least one committee member supported the earlier meetings because ... "it is more convenient for me."

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