Bucks councillor who stopped going to meetings quits after ‘moving to Oxfordshire’

Paul Harding became a member of Chesham Town Council in 2021 but is said to have moved to Abingdon soon after being elected to represent the Asheridge Vale ward.

Living outside Chesham is not against the rules of the council, however members must attend at least one meeting every six months as a minimum.

Mr Harding last attended a meeting in May and did not attend a meeting in November last year, according to the council’s attendance figures for 2024 and 2025.

This meant it was sixth months since he last attended a meeting, and he subsequently agreed to resign from the council.

Chesham Town Council should have 19 members but due to the resignation only has 18, all of whom were elected in May 2021 to represent the nine wards of Chesham.

Councillors are expected to attend council meetings at Chesham Town Hall and are elected every four years, with the next election in May 2025.

Mark Roberts, the chair of Chesham and Amersham Liberal Democrats, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “To the best of my knowledge Paul Harding fulfilled the legal attendance requirements and resigned when he was no longer able to do so.

“Obviously it is unfortunate that he can no longer serve as a councillor but his resignation is an entirely normal procedure in the circumstances.”

Despite his resignation, Mr Harding has not been the only councillor with a low attendance rate at full council meetings so far this year.

Conservative Councillor Gareth Williams has the worst attendance rate of any member at 14 per cent, having only been to one out of seven meetings.

Meanwhile, fellow Tories Jane MacBean, Wilford Augustus and Chasey Hood have all only attended two out of seven, as has Independent Umar Hayyat, giving all four of them a 29 per cent attendance rate.

Only three of the 19 councillors have 100 per cent attendance, Lib Dem Mohammad Fayyaz and Conservatives, Qaser Chaudhry and Francis Holly.

Jonathan Coburn, who lives in Asheridge Vale, told the LDRS: “Regardless of party politics, we need people on the Town Council who work hard and do their best to represent our areas.

“It is really disappointing to hear that this has not been the case for people in Asheridge Vale who have had an absent Lib Dem councillor.”

Fellow Chesham resident Oscar Longman said: “I had no idea that our local councillor has not even been living in Buckinghamshire.

“Whilst it is right that he has resigned, the Lib Dems should have done the right thing and encouraged Mr Harding to take a step back as soon as he felt unable to represent the area.”

A Chesham Town Council spokesperson told the LDRS: “The Local Government Act 1972 states that when a council member fails to attend any meetings for six consecutive months from the date of his last attendance, he ceases to be a member of the authority, unless the council accepts a reason for the failure to attend before the six months period expires.

“Paul Harding had not attended a meeting of the council over that time and resigned just before his six months would have been up, that left a vacancy in the Asheridge Vale ward.

“A by-election cannot be called by residents due to it being less than six months until the election. The council voted not to fill the seat by co-option due to the proximity to the May election.”

Approaches were made to contact Mr Harding for this article but he could not be contacted before publication.