What a councillor should be doing

LOCAL residents, businesses and community leaders add weight to another complaint to Charnwood Council - re absent Councillor Harley Hachem

Your article Echo, August 30th reported on Coun Max Hunt’s complaint now being considered by the council’s monitoring officer and the Council’s Standards Committee. As well as the comments made by the subject of the complaint Coun Hachem and his leader Coun David Slater.

Supporting the complaint, about Coun Hachem living in London for the past year, are local residents, businesses and community leaders who have also complained in writing.

Coun Slater jumping to his defence in the article states “A councillor gets paid allowances for doing a job not for attending meetings.”

Well any hard working councillor goes from one meeting to another. For example Full Council meetings, Scrutiny & Regulatory meetings, outside voluntary organisations meetings, local community group meetings as well as meeting with constituents to discuss issues are a few examples.

The Electoral Commission’s requirement to be an election candidate states they need to have been in the area for the whole time.

In the Local Government Association’s the Role of a Councillor it acknowledges ‘Whilst attendance is not the only indicator, it is measurable-and telling.

Finally in the words of Coun Max Hunt “it is the worst case of neglect of duty” he has come across in 25 years of service to Charnwood.

You can wrap it up in any way you want Coun Slater but residents, businesses & community leaders in Loughborough Ashby Ward want two working borough councillors, which they are entitled to.