It’s the law that to remain a councillor he or she should attend a
meeting once in a while; if the interval goes over six months the councillor has
to be removed and a by-election called. However in Bexley the council pays very
little regard to the law of the land and councillor Bill McEwen (Barnehurst
ward) last attended a council meeting in April 2009 yet he continued to be
paid until just a few days ago. That’s about £4,000 of allowances down the drain.
“Section 86(1)(c) of the Local Government Act 1972 Act requires, when someone
ceases to be a member because of non-attendance, the authority shall declare
their office to be vacant.” A by-election would then have to be held within 35
days. Bexley’s Conservatives have once again broken the law of the land; there
should have been a by-election at least three months ago and now because we
are so close to the next scheduled election nothing will be done to restore some
semblance of democracy to this deeply corrupt administration.
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