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Thrown off the council

ONE of Witney’s most prominent councillors and a former mayor has lost her seat on Witney Town Council after failing to attend a single meeting in six months.

Louise Chapman Louise Chapman

Councillor Louise Chapman —also a member of the county council cabinet — lost her Witney East seat under rules which say members must attend at least every six months. Mrs Chapman said the council should have reminded her of the meetings — though it said this was not its role.

She said: “It certainly wasn’t a case of sitting at home on the sofa, I would have been out at official meetings.”

She said: “People have come up to that point before, and they have been warned, but nobody informed me whatsoever. If I had been told, I would have gone along.”

She added: “But I should have realised myself and I didn’t, and I hold my hands up to that.”

She said she had ‘no hard feelings’ towards the council, and would continue to represent Witney East ward regardless. I will continue to help people, whatever the issue, because that’s what I do.”

Mrs Chapman is also a Witney West member on West Oxfordshire District Council. She is also a county councillor for Hanborough and is cabinet member for children, young people and families at Oxfordshire County Council.

Mrs Chapman, a town councillor for more than a decade, missed three consecutive full council meetings on May 12, June 23, and August 4.

She said she had been planning to stand down at a May 2011 election of all members anyway.

Yet she said a by-election ahead of this would be a ‘total waste of money’. This needs to be called for by at least ten residents.

Witney Town Council clerk, Sharon Groth, said it was ‘very unfortunate’ that Mrs Chapman had lost her position.

But she added: “A councillor has a duty to attend meetings, and in extenuating circumstances, such as serious illness, the council can agree a period of absence.

“On this occasion, no request was made.”

And she said: “It isn’t the role of the clerk to remind members to attend meetings, although in the past I have written to new councillors to remind them of their duty to attend if they were approaching the six-month deadline.”

Witney town mayor, James Mills, said: “Louise has worked extremely hard for the people of Witney for more than ten years, including serving as Witney’s youngest mayor.

“She has championed local people’s interests, working for more affordable homes and more leisure facilities for young people.

“It is regrettable that her time as town councillor has ended in this way, but I know that Louise will continue to work hard for the people she represents on the district and county councils.”


Comments (11)

20/10/10

Englishman says...

'Mrs Chapman said the council should have reminded her of the meetings'

Ever heard of a diary luv? For one who has so many fingers in so many Councils all I will say is God help us if all she can do is come up with a pathetic excuse like that.

20/10/10

Man on the Green says...

A sad way to go, indeed. Can we be sure that no allowances have been claimed or paid to her in respect of this period, and that any overpayment will be made good immediately?

The money spent on maintaining the three levels of local government - with no commensurate "value added" - looks increasingly indefensible. Time to move towards a unitary authority, I would argue.

20/10/10

Richard MacKenzie says...

At last some news to make me smile!

I wonder if we will see young Cllr Dean Barnes get the chop too? After all, I attended many Witney Town Council meetings last year, and never saw him at one of them...

20/10/10

Witney Mariner says...

“Louise has worked extremely hard for the people of Witney" despite attending no meetings. This works in reverse as well, cos I've attended hundreds of meeting where I work but I do sod all.

20/10/10

sam_e says...

No excuses for this. 6 months is a very long time. Has she had any input on issues during that time, even if only remotely?

What is the point of a councillor if they don't show up to council?

Most Tory voters would probably have her back anyway if it was allowed.

21/10/10

Porphyro says...

"By their (in)actions shall they be judged."

The voters of Oxfordshire have cause to worry about the competence of the cabinet member for children, young people and families at Oxfordshire County Council on the basis of her conduct in this case. It really is astonishing that she thinks she can get away with a comment like: "If I had been told, I would have gone along ". It sounds a bit like the excuse a chaotic GCSE student might offer for failing to hand in a piece of coursework. And she is supposedly responsible for Oxfordshire policy in family matters. What credibility is she left with? Zilch.

21/10/10

avinabacca says...

Meh, another fail for the Tory group. Where are the whips???

25/10/10

Transformer says...

This is cringe-worthy. It is always a valid question when a person puts themselves up for town, district and county councils - "are they genuinely committed to all?". In this case it seems that the Town Council seat was a "nice to have" but it was not important enough to demand Cllr Chapman's attendance. It is truly shocking that Louise and her father Barry (David Cameron's agent) have allowed such a thing to happen - very bad for local politics! If people volunteer themselves for a seat on the council then they should be willing to attend a minimum number of meetings of the full council and a minimum number of sub-committee attendance. Chapman has let herself, the town council , the district council and the county council down by failing to serve the public as she swore to do. She should be sacked from all local government!

26/10/10

David Condon says...

In such a heavily Conservative dominated Council - 14 Con, 3 Other - it does seem strange that no-one in her Party reminded her that she needed to start attending meetings!
...
However, with the Conservatives ruling the Town Council with an iron fist, there is NO DEBATE at these meetings as members of the public who have attended these meetings will testify. Furthermore, because of the Conservative dominance there is no need for all of the Conservative Cllrs to attend.
...
It's just the same in Labour or Lib Dem dominated Councils. Power brings arrogance, and there's plenty of that in Oxfordshire.
...
There is no 'Opposition' in our local politics, and any Cllr who does speak out against the Conservative policy gets the cold shoulder (eg. the last Green Cllr resigned because of this attitude towards him), or they simply cosy-up to their Conservative masters in order to get a position on committee.
...
Unfortunately it's the same in WODC & OCC, because people vote locally the same way as nationally, and in this area that means Conservative dominance.
Electors need to start voting for other parties, or better still 'Independents' in order to get proper debate at local level.
May 2011 would be a good time to start changing our voting habits at local elections.

26/10/10

JillyJ says...

The worrying issue is that the Govt is planning to devolve more power to local level (which should in theory be a good idea). However if our area is anything to go by, when one political party has too much power a very narrow view of what is best for the community prevails.

In villages, parish councillors are not permitted to stand for election as a member of a political party, this means that the most respected members of the community are elected. I believe that this should be extended further into other areas of local govt.

I also believe that having the same peope on all three local councils should be prohibited or at least discouraged, it encourages "career" politicians doing it mainly for the money, as well as removing any checks & balances between the elected bodies.

I do hope the voters of Witney start to change the political shape of our local councils next May and that we have a better mix of different people standing for election. Maybe members of other local parties and interest groups should get together to form a strategy to get a more democratic balance on the councils?

28/10/10

HughdeGree says...

She should be ashamed and disciplined by the County Council for bringing local democracy into disrepute!

Further she should repay any expenses and issue an apology to all her constituents and the poor Council clerk she blamed!

SACK HER - Her arrogance would be surprising if we didn't know she was a close friend of Conservative Councillor Keith Mitchel who takes arrogance to new lows.

The message she is sending is don't vote Conservative in Oxfordshire.

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