Councillors miss 1 in 5 meetings

Published 17 Jan 2013 09:30 5 Comments

BRACKNELL forest councillors missed more than 220 meetings they were supposed to attend in 2012.

Betweent them, the 42 councillors failed to show up at almost one in five meetings - 17.3 per cent - with eight councillors missing at least 10.

Only one councillor, Will Davison, who has represented Hanworth since 2011, had a 100% record, attending all his 38 meetings.

For the full story, and a table showing how often YOUR ward councillors turned up, buy a copy of the Bracknell News today.

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This article appeared in Bracknell News 17 Jan 13

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

• 

  qwerty
  14 posts
  Jan 17, 23:07
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  I think this finding is very worrying indeed, give the fact that councillors have an important role in decision making and assessing the needs,and concerns and issues faced by residents within the ward they look after . They also review policy and strategy working with the council on such matters which they will find difficult if they do not attend meetings. This is an important and influnetial role and the roles and responsibilities of Councillors can be found on the Bracknell Forest Borough website
  
  As this is such an important role and can take up a considerable amount of time you would expect councillors to consider this before becoming an elected Councillor . Given the lack of commitment by some Councillors it would seem they have some hard work to do in 2013 to redeem themselves and bring back some of the trust that has been lost by the result of this finding
  
  Recommend?   Yes 4     No 0

• 

  qwerty
  14 posts
  Jan 17, 23:13
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  Having said that I do feel that despite this lapse many Councillors respond to the needs of residents swiftly and in some cases to great effect
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 3

• 

  AlvinFinch
  1 post
  Jan 18, 01:14
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  The meetings referred to here are the “statutory” meetings of the council. Most councillors also have a number of other meetings to attend. Sub groups are set up to examine various aspects to the council. Scrutiny groups run all year, and there are sub groups examining finance and budget matters most of the year. A number of councillors sit on outside bodies in an official manner; these bodies often have dates that clash with council meetings - councillors have to decide which is the most “important” meeting to attend, and may ask another councillor to fill in for them on the meeting of council business.
  
  Having said all of that; there is much more to being a councillor than attending meetings. There are real people out there with real problems that need helping.
  
  Also querty says that we “have an important role in decision making”. Yes: So there is also a huge amount of background reading to be done, and in house seminars (that don’t appear on the meeting list) to attend.
  
  Query also says “They also review policy and strategy”. Again this is mostly done in meetings of sub groups of the scrutiny panels that don’t appear on the meetings list.
  
  One other thing that occurs to me is that the length of meeting is not noted. Some are over very quickly, others like this evenings planning meeting went on until 23.30.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 2     No 5

• 

  qwerty
  14 posts
  Jan 18, 18:14
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  I am pleased Mr Finch has spoken on this matter and made clear the role it is important to know what people do and how they do it otherwise articles such as this can be misleading or incomplete. I had hoped that my comments would prompt a response.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 2

• 

  qwerty
  14 posts
  Jan 18, 18:22
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  It is important to discuss these things and try to always make clear the work that people do and the way it is carried out . It is important to know and understand the work that people to within the community.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

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