Ashley, Bristol Ward, News Update

by poor dear Thu May 22, 2008 15:01

CALLS FOR COUNCILLOR 'ABROAD' TO RESIGN
4 readers have commented on this story. Click here to read their views.

07:31 - 22 May 2008

An MP has called on a Bristol city councillor to resign because she is spending long spells out of the country.

Liberal Democrat Shirley Marshall, who represents the council's Ashley ward, is being paid a basic councillor's allowance of more than £900 a month.

But opponents claim she has attended few meetings and is not available to meet people and deal with their concerns.

The Evening Post understands that Ms Marshall, 47, intends to bow out of political life and move to the United States to be with her husband Byron Brown, whom she married last August.

But the Post not been able to contact the Ashley ward councillor since April 29, despite a number of attempts.

An automated response to her council email address says she is "on leave" and she has failed to fulfil pre-arranged telephone interviews with the Post to discuss her situation.

Bristol East Labour MP Kerry McCarthy has this week suggested that a by-election might be necessary in Ashley Ward because of Ms Marshall's absence.

Writing on her personal website, Ms McCarthy claimed that Ms Marshall was "now living in the USA" and claimed that the city's Lib Dems had paid for her to fly to the UK to vote in a full council meeting.

Ms McCarthy said: "She is picking up public money for being a councillor.

"I don't think she can continue to do that job if she is not based in Bristol."

Backbench members of the city council receive an allowance of £11,000 a year. Council documents confirm that Ms Marshall received her full allowance for the year to March 31.

A council spokesman said: "If Councillor Marshall is not barred from office, she is still being paid."

By law if a councillor does not attend a meeting for six months, a by-election is automatically triggered, provided this happens more than six months before the next scheduled election.

Ms Marshall has fulfilled the minimum attendance criteria.

She attended a children's services scrutiny commission meeting on March 31 and a full council meeting the following day but was not at the annual council meeting earlier this month.

She also missed the budget setting meeting in February, further full council meetings in July and October 2007 and January this year, and children's services scrutiny commission meetings in January and February.

She was first elected in Ashley ward in 2003 and worked on issues including a campaign against knife crime and raising the achievement of black and ethnic minority school pupils.

But she was criticised by Labour ward councillor Dudley Saward for taking a two-month holiday to Jamaica just two months after she was first elected.

Mother-of-three Ms Marshall was re-elected a year ago but shortly afterwards was taken to hospital after a suspected stroke.

It was during a recuperation holiday in the United States last year that she married Mr Brown, 45, who lives and works in Florida.

She returned to Bristol and council work, as well as her job as a family support worker in Easton and a minister with Holiness Ministries, with pastoral responsibilities in Bristol and Wolverhampton.

In December, she again took a break for the sake of her health and went to the US for a holiday.

Her fellow Ashley councillor Dr Jon Rogers has been dealing with ward work while she has been away.

Lib Dem group leader Councillor Barbara Janke said last night that Ms Marshall had been ill. She said the party hoped to resolve the issue within the next week.

Mrs Janke said: "Shirley Marshall is a well-known local councillor, and people tend to miss her when she's away.

"It is common knowledge that Shirley recently married and spent some time with her new husband in the United States.

"I think it is only fair to say that councillors do sometimes have circumstances in their own lives that mean they are temporarily unavailable and colleagues provide cover in their absence.

"I am sure Shirley will soon be back in Bristol and working hard in her local community."