A spate of mystery posters appeared on lampposts in Beeston and Hunslet overnight (Sunday 23 November 2014).
The anonymous posters accuse local ward members Elizabeth Nash, Mohammed Iqbal and Patrick Davey of being conspicuous by their absence in the ward.
In response Councillor Elizabeth Nash said:
“At least one of the City and Hunslet councillors is in Hunslet every week. We attend the monthly meetings of Hunslet Tenants and Residents Association, the monthly meetings of Hunslet Residents Association and the monthly meeting of Hunslet Hall and Malverns Residents.
“We hold advice surgeries on the first Saturday in each month at Hunslet Carr Sports and Social Club at 9am and on the second Tuesday of every month in the Civic Hall at 7.15pm.
“The posters are pure malicious speculation and have no foundation whatsoever. It is note-worthy that the posters have no indication of their author.”
Excellent satire by the flyposter! Not the best response from Nash. “Malicious speculation”, really? Or a fair challenge? How much time are the councillors putting into the community they are paid to represent? A few hours a month for £14k a year as the poster suggests? And what about those other jobs the poster mentions? What else is on the register of interests?
It’s illegal to put posters on lamposts (unless you’re the council), so whoever the poster is, they’re not daft enough to put their name on it.
ps these are not my councillors.
Can a councillor represent a ward they don’t reside in?
Of course they can.
But living in the area represented makes the councillor part of the local community and gives them a much better understanding of the issues of the area.
I guess we are lucky in Beeston & Holbeck with having 2 of our councillors as residents.
Hmmm…. £14k per annum for 5 days per month or, 60 days a year at c£233 per day.
How can I get a gig like that?! )
Nash reads like someone chewing on a wasp with that statement, have to admit this made me smile and find myself in agreement with the posters’ points. Compare and contrast the work rate with these three and Councillors in other neighbouring wards and if it was a football match you’d be thinking it was time for a substitution.
Just to check, were the photos on the poster taken the last time anyone saw them and, if so, is it possible to get an artists impression of what they may look like now so that I can be on the look out
I think in order to stand for election as as Councillor, you should either live in that particular ward, an adjacent one (if you’re just over the boundary, for example) or have some connection to it.
Very few of our elected councillors actually live in the areas they represent. Middleton Park has two councillors who live about as far from Middleton as possible, without leaving the ‘Greater Leeds’ district.
Of course this is entirely deliberate, with the intention of denying the members of the public access to their councillors, and making them accountable to their electors, and their wishes.
Until the ‘whipping’ of councillors is banned, it’s pointless even having councillors anyway. They just vote how they are told.