Which councillors are not turning up to full Keighley Town Council meetings?
The council has just one recorded instance of full attendance since May 2023, according to our analysis ...
On the back of our recent post on the full council attendance record of Ilkley Town Council councillors since January 2024, we’ve decided to take a look at how the town’s council’s neighbours are doing in Keighley.
The town council here is much bigger. In fact, it’s double the size of Ilkley with 30 councillors sitting on Keighley Town Council compared to Ilkley’s 14. They are currently:
Clare Abberton
Amjid Ahmed
Fulzar Ahmed
Javaid Akhtar
Ellen Bailey
Peter Corkindale
Martin Crangle
Mark Curtis
Mick Dowse
Wendy Harrison
Lewis Haynes
Chris Herd
Kamal Hussain
Gulfraz Hussain
Mohammed Ibraheem
Andrew Judson
Peter Kates
Mohammad Khalil
Kaif Khan
John Lawless
Luke Maunsell
Mohammed Nazam
Mohammed Muazzam
Tamara Priestley
Mohammed Kadir Rafiq
Abdul Nasser Razak
Abdul Shohid
Tracy Storton
Dawn Thewlis
Andrea Walker
The wards represented are as follows:
Bogthorn and Exley (one councillor)
Bracken Bank & Ingrow (three`` councillors)
Fell Lane & Westburn (three councillors)
Guardhouse (one councillor)
Highfield Ward (two councillors)
Knowle Park (one councillor)
Lawkholme & Showfield (two councillors)
Long Lee & Parkwood (two councillors)
Laycock & Braithwaite (one councillor)
Morton & Sandbeds (two councillors)
Oakworth Ward (three councillors)
Riddlesden and Stockbridge (three councillors)
Spring Gardens & Utley (three councillors)
Town Ward (one councillor)
Woodhouse & Hainworth (two councillors)
Since May 2023, it appears, according to our analysis, that there has only been one full Keighley Town Council meeting where all councillors have been in attendance. This begs multiple questions. Where is the representation? Where is the commitment? Where is the professionalism? Where is the time management?
An argument we’ve heard given is that being a councillor is a demanding and voluntary role. That fact is by the by. It’s implied by the role itself and the institution. This is politics, local government – of course it’s going to be time-consuming and complex.
But, more to the point perhaps, you, as a councillor, choose to go into local politics. It’s an active choice. And another thing, aren’t all our lives, professional and personal, challenging in their own, unique ways? What makes your challenges any different to everyone else's? It’s a weak, inherently flawed argument.
Now, as we also noted in our post on the town council attendance record of parish councillors in Ilkley, the reasons for absences may be genuine and unavoidable. And that’s fine. Life happens when you’re busy making other plans, as the saying goes.
But when the norm is for a full council meeting to be anything but a packed, full house with every councillor in attendance, with absences a regular occurrence, with clear repeat offenders, then it warrants scrutiny. It is in the public interest.
All that said, it’s worth drawing your attention to the fact that legally a parish council only has to meet a minimum of four times a year, with one of those gatherings being the annual meeting. Make of that what you will.
What we’re not 100% sure about is what the minimum attendance for parish councillors should be. What we’ve found is that according to section 85 of the 1972 local government act, “a member of a local authority fails throughout a period of six consecutive months from the date of his last attendance to attend any meeting of the authority, he shall, unless the failure was due to some reason approved by the authority before the expiry of that period, cease to be a member of the authority”.
According to our analysis, councillors Kamal Hussain, Lewis Haynes and Tamara Priestley have been absent from full council meetings the most since May 2023. It appears that they have missed nine meetings each.
They are closely followed by Tracy Storton and Wendy Harrison who have, as we understand it, been absent from eight meetings since May 2023. Then you have six absences from Mark Curtis and five absences respectively from Andrea Walker, Abdul Nasser Razak and Abdul Shohid.
We’ve recorded the absences of the councillors below. If there are any mistakes, do let us know. Thank you.
2023
Thursday 18 May
Apologies for absence
Tracy Storton
Javaid Akhtar
Lewis Haynes
Thursday 22 June
Apologies for absence
Luke Maunsell
Mohammed Nazam
Kamal Hussain
Martin Crangle
Gulfraz Hussain
Lewis Haynes
Ellen Bailey
Tuesday 27 June (extraordinary full council)
Apologies for absence
Mohammed Nazam
John Kirby
Mark Curtis
Paul Cook
Abdul Nasser Razak
Laura Kelly
Thursday 28 September
Apologies for absence
Abdul Shohid
Chris Herd
Mark Curtis
Wendy Harrison
Monday 13 November (extraordinary full council)
Apologies for absence
Andrea Walker
Mohammed Nazam
Kamal Hussain
Thursday 30 November
Apologies for absence
Tracy Storton
Mohammed Ibraheem
Wendy Harrison
2024
Thursday 18 January
Apologies for absence
Chris Herd
Kamal Hussain
Lewis Haynes
Tamara Priestley
Thursday 28 March
Apologies for absence
Mohammed Nazam
Wendy Harrison
Mohammed Muazzam
Abdul Nasser Razak
Thursday 18 April (annual meeting)
Apologies for absence*
Fulzar Ahmed
Peter Corkindale
Martin Crangle
Mark Curtis
Mick Dowse
Wendy Harrison
Lewis Haynes
Chris Herd
Kamal Hussain
Andrew Judson
Mohammad Khalil
Kaif Khan
John Lawless
Luke Maunsell
Mohammed Nazam
Mohammed Muazzam
Tamara Priestley
Mohammed Kadir Rafiq
Abdul Nasser Razak
Abdul Shohid
Tracy Storton
Dawn Thewlis
Andrea Walker
*As there are no absences recorded on the notes this is based on a simple deduction of the councillors recorded as being present. Do correct us if wrong.
Thursday 16 May
Apologies for absence
Teresa Hartley
Tamara Priestley
Kamal Hussain
Thursday 27 June
Apologies for absence
Andrew Judson
Wendy Harrison
Andrea Walker
Kamal Hussain
Mohammad Khalil
Lewis Haynes
Thursday 19 September
Apologies for absence
Wendy Harrison
Clare Abberton
Lewis Haynes
Mohammed Nazam
Tracy Storton
Tamara Priestley
Mick Dowse
Thursday 28 November
Apologies for absence
Teresa Hartley
Kaif Khan
Abdul Shohid
John Lawless
Tracy Storton
Tamara Priestley
Abdul Nasser Razak
Lewis Haynes
2025
Thursday 16 January
Apologies for absence
Teresa Hartley
Amjid Ahmed
Javaid Akhtar
Tracy Storton
Wendy Harrison
Tamara Priestley
Thursday 27 March
Apologies for absence
Abdul Shohid
Mark Curtis
Martin Crangle
Kamal Hussain
Tracy Storton
Tamara Priestley
Mohammed Kadir Rafiq
Thursday 10 April (annual town meeting)
Apologies for absence*
Clare Abberton
Fulzar Ahmed
Peter Corkindale
Martin Crangle
Mark Curtis
Mick Dowse
Wendy Harrison
Lewis Haynes
Chris Herd
Kamal Hussain
Mohammed Ibraheem
Mohammad Khalil
John Lawless
Luke Maunsell
Mohammed Nazam
Mohammed Muazzam
Tamara Priestley
Abdul Nasser Razak
Abdul Shohid
Tracy Storton
Dawn Thewlis
Andrea Walker
*As there are no absences recorded on the notes this is based on a simple deduction of the councillors recorded as being present. Do correct us if wrong.
Thursday 15 May
Apologies for absence
None
Thursday 26 June
Apologies for absence
Andrea Walker
Clare Abberton
Peter Corkindale
Mark Curtis
John Lawless
Kamal Hussain
Gulfraz Hussain
Tamara Priestley
Lewis Haynes
Kaif Khan