Dear Sir,
Surely nothing can be sadder than seeing an empty seat representing residents at our local council meetings, but recently it has been a common sight at Great Aycliffe Town Council.
Apparently it is deemed acceptable for our elected representatives to attend once every six months in order to qualify for their allowance.
Bad enough for independents to apply this behaviour as individuals but indefensible for members of the Labour group.
If you happen to be a registered voter in a ward represented would you not feel justifiably aggrieved that your representatives are not attending meetings and voting for policies that are accepted in favour of your area?
JUSTIFICATION
No doubt this article will be answered with the regular normal excuses of sickness, holidays, work commitments etc. None of these things can justify the misrepresentation of the people by long term absence. It is true  Councillors can be designated as volunteers but they are arguably very well paid if they collect around £1000 per annum for two attendances of TWO hour meetings per year.
That is an hourly rate of £250 per hour. Nice work if you can get it! Oh and by the way you can’t get it because people who apparently don’t have an interest in local government are hogging the seats to stop interested parties from standing.
ABSENT COUNCILLORS
Personally I am too discouraged to research who attended what meeting but those 30 Councillors who hold seats on our council are there to represent the people of Newton Aycliffe and should be proud to serve us and should do so with integrity and a good attendance.
By and large I am happy with the performance of the Labour controlled Town Council but if individuals are not representing their areas at council it deprives the Council of alternative viewpoints which may suggest improved solutions.
FISCAL
CONSIDERATIONS
The election of councillors incurs a sizable cost to the community, running into thousands of pounds, consequently candidates should consider the cost to the public if they are not committed, when elected.
We recently had a councillor resign his seat honourably because he found employment out of the country. Any other councillors who have found that they cannot give reasonable time to the job should seriously consider resigning now to avoid the cost of multiple by elections.
Ken Robson