James Barlow

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?

• Full Council - January 2008 - Absent
• Full Council - February 2008 - Absent
• Full Council - April 2008 - Present
• Full Council - May 2008 - Absent
• Full Council - June 2008 - Present
• Full Council - 22 July 2008 - Present
• Full Council - September 2008 - Absent

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.

Further to previous reports of a Bristol City Councillor being flown in from America for vital votes:

We have an official identification! Our transatlantic telecommuting councillor is Shirley Marshall, representing Ashley Ward. Representations have been made to the city clerk, but it would appear that the "six month rule" after which her office would be deemed abandonded has yet to be invoked. No news on whether Ms Marshall plans to voluntarily stand down, or whether she will keep jetting in for the next 3 years until she fights the next Ashley ward election in 2011.

Councillor Marshall was elected in 2007 by a narrow margin of 110 votes, and is also - by phone, presumably - a School Governor at Cabot School, where she is supposed to be acting as "Looked After Children Governor" with responsibility for keeping an eye on those particularly vulnerable pupils who are in the care of the state, God help them. Perhaps she does that by email.

I wonder who pays for the flights?