Spelthorne Borough Council vote to keep councillor who lives in India

Spelthorne Borough Council have voted to allow a Conservative councillor to keep his seat even though he has lived in India for the last 6 months.

Cllr Dipak Gohil hasn't attended a council meeting for 6 months and should have been removed as a councillor under the Local Government Act but the council voted to grant him a leave of absence which allows him to keep his seat. His Tory colleagues said that he can be contacted by phone, fax and email in India so residents are still getting adequate representation.

Last month the Conservative leader of Spelthorne Borough Council hit the headlines after he was challenged by the father of a boy killed during the 2013 floods for laughing whilst he was addressing the council about his son's death. In July last year another Conservative Spelthorne councillor was convicted of five counts of assaulting his ex-girlfriend.

Spelthorne Conservatives have a serious credibility problem at the moment and voting to keep one of their councillors on the payroll when he's living 5,000 miles away isn't going to do them any favours.