Cllr Shirley Marshall, you may recall, recently married a Floridian gentleman and - as of last May - was preparing for a future in America. Indeed, it would appear she was spending very little of her time in Bristol performing her duties as a Councillor. No doubt she is not taking her full allowance of £11,000 which we'll be able to confirm when the relevant documents are released next year.

But has she been around recently?

These attendances are based on the minutes of each meeting, although as it happens I've been watching the June 2008 video - (note to Neil Harrison: don't chew your pen) and I can't see Shirley anywhere in the council chamber.

The law governing the disqualification of councillors for non-attendance is defined in Section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972, which states:

2.1 Section 85(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 provides that a Member
will cease to be a Member of the authority if:
a) they fail to attend any Meetings of the authority or any other
meeting as a representative of the Council;
b) they have been absent for a period of six consecutive months from
the date of their last attendance;
c) their absence is not due to some reason approved by the authority
before the expiry of that period

Looks like she is still doing enough to prevent a by-election. As long as "Councillor" Marshall turns up some time this year she should be able to keep her allowance.