A Bury councillor has avoided being thrown off the authority for failing to attend meetings while she was off on holiday.
Coun Yvonne Wright, an Independent who represents Tottington ward, has not attended a council meeting since May 27 this year after being on holiday on each occasion she was due to be present.
Coun Wright, who has been on the council for 23 years, is the only Independent on Bury Council and is not on any committees or panels apart from full council. She was away on holiday for meetings on July 20 and September 21.
Coun Wright, a long standing member of the Tory party, left the group in February, saying her ‘values are no longer aligned to those of Bury Conservatives’. Section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972 states that if a member of a local authority fails throughout a period of six consecutive months from the date of their last attendance to attend any meeting of the authority, they shall cease to a member of the authority.
The next meeting she is eligible to attend is on December 7, more than six months since her last attendance.
The meeting was originally scheduled for November 23, but has been put back for procedural reasons.
However, Coun Wright is set for a reprieve after council leader Eamonn O’Brien said the ‘fair-minded’ thing would be to appoint her to a vacant position on a committee so she can attend a meeting before she is disbarred.
That decision has been attacked by the council’s Conservative leader Russell Bernstein who said he will ‘robustly challenge any attempt by the Labour administration to put Coun Wright on any committees’ and accused her of having ‘no regard for rules’.
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Coun Wright defended her decision to travel on holiday instead of attending meetings saying they had been booked prior to the dates of full council meetings being set.
She said: “I’m the longest serving member of Bury Council an have a good record of attendance at meetings over all my years.
“I left the Conservatives in February and still got the highest vote in May. That will tell you something about my commitment.
“In September the council decided to move the November meeting two weeks on.
“I’m full of anxiety about the situation and have applied for a dispensation but it’s been three weeks that I’ve been hanging out to dry.
“I have apologised profusely to the council.”
Council leader Eamonn O’Brien, said: “After discussions with council officers I’ve come to the conclusion that the fair minded thing to do considering we’ve moved the council meeting which she could have attended is to ensure she does not fall foul of the six month rule.
“That means finding a way that she can attend a meeting and remain a councillor.”
Coun Bernstein has angrily attacked that decision.
He said: “Yvonne Wright has clearly has no regard for rules.
“Even if the November meeting had not been moved she would have been missing for five months 28 days.
“The six month rule is embedded in law and the council constitution to ensure elected councillors represent the people who elect them at council meetings not to swan around the world.
“I will robustly challenge any attempt by the Labour administration to put Yvonne Wright on any committees as I firmly believe such a move is contrary to the council constitution.
“It’s my view that appointments are determined by political proportionality and not the whim of the administration.
“I can’t help but think that Bury Labour for all their bravado do not want to face the electorate a confident administration would have jumped at the chance of gaining another seat but no they try to come to some shabby understanding with a discredited councillor who struggles to comply with basic legal requirements on attendance.”
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