6 month rule - section 85 LGA 1972

Question

We have a parish councilor that has not attended any council meeting for over 6 months. The council did not approve the absence and neither of the exceptions detailed in section 85 apply. A clear cut case for disqualification? No! according to the district council monitoring officer, because there was an intervening uncontested election, the clock was reset and as the councilor attended a meeting within 6 months of the election, section 85 did not apply.

So -  it is possible for a parish councilor returned unopposed to be absent from council meetings for almost a year (6 months before and 6 months after an election).  It also seems that a new councilor does not need to turn up for their first meeting for up to 6 months.

BTW the monitoring officer confirmed that even if section 85 applied it was not in his remit to intevene.

Answer 1

Yes, that all seems correct. Clearly the missing councillor did take the trouble to be nominated and after the election, there is effectively a new council.

There is no need for the monitoring officer to be involved if six months of the new council elapses without the councillor putting in an appearance. The parish council can then declare that the councillor is disqualified by reason of non-attendance and start the procedure for a casual vacancy.