Annabelle Blackmore - UK Media Comments - Page 1
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By Ross Lydall, Local Government Correspondent, Evening Standard
A Tory councillor in Iain Duncan Smith's London constituency has refused to resign despite accepting a new job in Canada.
David Divine says he will "commute" between Nova Scotia and Waltham Forest, where he is an opposition member. But he is
facing demands to stand down from the council's Labour leader, who said it was "beneath contempt" to believe he could carry out
his duties effectively from across the Atlantic.
It follows the case of Tory councillor Annabelle Blackmore who refused to resign from Maidstone council despite moving to
Bermuda.
Mr Divine has been appointed visiting professor of black Canadian studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He takes up the six-
year post in January and has said that he plans to move his family there. He was elected to Waltham Forest council last year,
representing the Valley ward - part of Mr Duncan Smith's Chingford and Woodford Green constituency. He has about two and a half
years of his fouryear term to run and receives about £8,000 a year in expenses.
Mr Divine says he plans to retain his house here and return for about five days a month to conduct council business. He said: "If I
feel that it can't be done, then I will obviously do what a credible councillor does and initiate a by-election." But Labour leader
Clyde Loakes said: "To be representative you have got to be breathing the same air, getting on the same buses and using the
same schools."
Cllr McGannan's resignation leaves the ward with two borough councillors, Cllr Nelson-Gracie and Cllr Annabelle Blackmore (Con),
who has been at the centre of a row over her temporary move to Bermuda with her husband's work.
At the meeting with parish councillors on Tuesday, members were divided over whether Cllr Blackmore could adequately represent
the ward from 3,000 miles away. Fighting back tears at times, she insisted she could do her job via e-mail, fax, telephone and
occasional visits and emphasised her move was temporary.
Parish Cllr Richard Adam said: "I am perfectly prepared to acknowledge the hard work that you have put in but I don't think that
somebody in a foreign country can adequately represent the parish.
"I think that you should resign now and put yourself up for re-election when you return."
But she replied: "I think that would be letting people down and be a backward view rather than a forward view."
Parish Cllr Ian Newton said: "I come round to agreeing with some of my fellow councillors, that she is obviously trying to make an
effort to know what is going on in the parish."
Cllr Blackmore's freephone telephone number is 0800 279 2977. Cllr McGannan was not available for comment.
• The borough council is accepting nominations for the by-election until noon on October 31. The election is on November 27.
A councillor who moved to Bermuda shortly after being elected is facing calls to stand
down over claims she cannot perform her duties while she is 3,500 miles away.
Annabelle Blackmore was elected to Maidstone Borough Council in May as a Conservative
member for the Marden and Yalding ward. But she left Kent a few weeks later when her
husband was sent on secondment to Bermuda by his employers.
Following calls for her resignation, Maidstone Borough Council has referred the
performance and attendance of councillors to its standards committee. The committee will
meet to decide whether to lobby the government to change the rules on councillors'
attendance.
Mrs Blackmore admits face-to-face meetings are difficult
Mrs Blackmore said: "I understand the need for a change as one meeting every six months is too low in terms of attendance. I
think people have misunderstood my situation. This is a temporary posting not a permanent move. I agree face-to-face
meetings are difficult, but there are three other elected members for the ward."
post and has returned twice to Kent since leaving for Bermuda in May. Her next visit will
be in January. A freephone number - 0800 279 2997 - has been set up in order to make
it easier for residents to contact her abroad.
Councillor Mick Stevens
He said: "If you live in Bermuda you cannot be local, available and active in your community.
"There is absolutely no way she can fulfil her role as a councillor. Most councillors spend at least one day a week walking
around their ward. There's no way she can do that. It's impossible. "I have asked her to resign, but she is still holding on to
the belief she can do her job. I think she deliberately misled the electorate and should go."
One can only marvel at that sheer arrogance of the Conservative councillor from Maidstone who thinks she can represent her
constituency while reclining on the sun-kissed shores of Bermuda.
A law that allows Annabelle Blackmore, whose high-flying
husband has been sent to Bermuda on secondment, to live on the
Caribbean island while keeping her job as a Maidstone member makes a mockery of local
democracy.
Cllr Blackmore claims she can still serve residents in her Marden
and Yalding ward via fax, phone or email. But surely the very
point about local democracy is that it is local? How can she possibly serve voters from a
distance of more than three thousand
miles?
And what is Maidstone BC going to do about this ludicrous
situation? Well, precisely nothing it seems. The council says it has no
plans to consider the matter, despite the fact that Ms Blackmore's selfish stance has
brought negative publicity not only to
Maidstone but to local government as a whole. Despite the fact that the council has had
letters of complaint from local people.
Requests for Cllr Blackmore's services have been referred to other ward members. So the
average punter now has more fuel for
the 'councillors are greedy bastards who do nothing' fire.
Cllr Blackmore is legally within her rights. Section 55 of the
Local Government Act 1972 states that a councillor has to attend
meetings every six months to fulfil his or her obligations.
This bizarrely minimal requirement allowed a councillor to work in
China while claiming allowances in another 'isn't local
government barmy' story the press seized upon a few months ago.
The LGA says that such coverage does not reflect the huge amount of
time and effort the majority of councillors put into the job.
But it cannot campaign for changes the to the law because too prescriptive an approach to
councillors' duties would be unhelpful.
The ballot box will ultimately deal with Cllr Blackmore, whose
chances of being re-elected are about as slim as a Panetela. But
this is a matter that should be dealt with by local government itself instead of having to
ever be put before voters.
Councillor who lives 3,000 miles away
A councillor has defended her decision to continue serving local residents despite moving more than 3,000 miles away.
Annabelle Blackmore left for Bermuda just weeks after being elected in May to Maidstone Borough Council.
Mrs Blackmore, whose husband has been given a secondment on the island by his employers for up to two years, plans to keep
in touch with people in Marden and Yalding by phone, fax, and e-mail.
She also hopes to visit the UK every few months to attend council meetings. Under the rules, councillors must attend at least one
meeting every six months.
Mrs Blackmore, who admits that she failed to tell voters
about her Bermuda plans while campaigning for election, said: "I felt
then and I still feel now that I can do the job quite efficiently and effectively.
"Because face-to-face contact has reduced nowadays I still think I can carry out the
majority of my duties by other
communication - by fax, phone and e-mail.
"I would like the opportunity to make the situation work. I realise that it is not
what everybody is used to but I think it can work
so at the moment I don't think it is necessary for me to resign.
"It is a situation that I may need to review after a period of time and maybe after a
review I might think differently but at
present I still think the system can work."
The 37-year-old, who is currently on a 10-day visit to the UK with her 19-month-old son,
said she had promised to immediately
return all calls to Bermuda - priced at 78p a minute from a BT line during the day - but
confessed to receiving few so far.
"Interestingly enough, the only people who have telephoned me
overseas have been journalists," she said.
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• Updates • Marden Online Soapbox Comment • UK Media Comment • World Media CommentThis page was last updated on 28 October 2003. All information is given in good faith. No responsibility can be accepted for errors or omissions. Marden Online is copyright Richard Wells ©2003
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