Ill Eastwood councillor retains borough council seat despite missing meetings
An Eastwood borough councillor who suffered ill health, has kept her seat after six separate occasions which could have led to her being kicked off the authority.
Broxtowe Council members gathered in an extraordinary council meeting on January 2 to reassess a further six-month ‘dispensation’ for Eastwood Hill Top councillor, Susan Bagshaw (Lab) which would allow her to remain on the council after a period of absence.
Coun Bagshaw has been unable to attend full council meetings due to ill health for a couple of years, with the first missed full council meeting recorded as July 2023.
She had attended the authority’s first meeting in May following the 2023 local elections.
Under policy, when a councillor fails to attend meetings for six consecutive months from the date of their last attendance then they cease to be a member of the authority – unless there are certain exceptions which the council agrees to before the six months expires.
This is where councils can agree to a ‘dispensation’ for absent councillors under certain circumstances, allowing them to remain on the authority despite their lack of attendance.
While councillors have overwhelmingly supported her dispensations for over two years, one recently voiced his concerns in December that continuing requests for her to remain on the council had become ‘too long’ and taxpayers ‘deserve a representative’.
At the time, another member reminded councillors the authority was signed up to the TUC Dying to Work Charter, which offers work protection for employees who have been diagnosed with a serious or terminal illness.
Since July 2023, there have been five occasions where councillors have voted on whether to allow Coun Bagshaw to remain on the authority, with the first in an October 2023 full council meeting and the most recent on December 17.
December’s meeting saw Coun Bagshaw’s ‘dispensation’ rejected for the first time, but it is understood there were accuracy issues when counting councillor votes, meaning the issue was called up for deciding a sixth time in the January 2 meeting, just before her dispensation would have expired.
However, a vote was no longer needed in the meeting due to Coun Bagshaw turning up in person for the first time in around two-and-a-half years.
Speaking in favour of rejecting a further dispensation in December’s meeting, before the vote was found to be inaccurate, Coun Stephen Jeremiah (Brox All) said there had been many opportunities for Coun Bagshaw to ‘stand down’, meaning there would be a by-election for her seat.
He said: “I’ve supported the dispensation for two and a half years – I think it’s now got to a stage where it’s actually too long.
“There has been multiple opportunities to stand down, with the election of the mayor and full county.
“My overriding thing is residents do deserve a representative and I feel they would be unhappy about a councillor being allowed to carry on the job and receiving tax payers money when they are unable to attend or make representations.”
Speaking in favour of allowing Coun Bagshaw to remain on the authority, Coun Peter Bales (Lab) said in the meeting: “Coun Bagshaw has served her community and this council impeccably in the past.
“As a council we are signed up to the TUC Dying to Work Charter so if we are now going against something we’ve signed up to it’s something we should be looking hard at.”
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service on January 5, Coun Bales said Coun Bagshaw had attended some online meetings in 2024 and added: “The decision for Coun Bagshaw to attend the January meeting was her and her husband’s (Coun David Bagshaw) alone.
“Susan is actually a member of the policy committee.
"Due to ongoing ICT issues with the council, they haven’t been able to join the meeting online.
“There’s nothing to say she’s not scrutinising the meeting papers – she may well discuss them with David.”
Coun David Bagshaw was approached for comment but declined to say anything further.