Do local councillors take summer off?

[cinnamonswirls21]

Our local councillor is absolutely useless but just wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and ask if they take summer off like MPs?

I don't know if they do in general, but a neighbour of ours who is one has gone off to their place in France for a month, possibly longer if they come back via Spain to avoid isolation if that's an issue at the end of their stay.

I suppose they may be dutifully attending meetings by zoom.

The ones that I know don't, one of them dialled into a committee meeting from his holiday!

Not sure if it is the same as MPs because councillors aren't salaried in the same way - they get an allowance to cover expenses etc but not sure how it works in terms of holidays. Pretty sure they're allowed to go on holiday but not sure if anyone has to ok it or not?

My local council doesn't meet in August, but the councillors are available all year round. There are always exceptions, one man failed to attend any council meetings for a year and only replied to people he agreed with. He's no longer a councillor, he's a Tory MP instead!

What are you asking your local councillor to do for you? Councillors are elected non-executives. They will attend full Council meetings and committee meetings when those are timetabled, but most councils try to keep the summers lighter because people want to get away.

My local councillors have jobs (bar one, who is retired) so they don't have hours and hours to do their council stuff in.

They definitely don't have a summer break, I know loads of councillors and they're all working, campaigning, updating social media etc

Ours are around but take breaks while it is quieter

Thanks everyone I had assumed as much!

He has been merrily commenting on FB posts on local groups announcing he'll be tackling problems etc and I've just seen some photos of him smiling on a walkround with a local business.

Yet he hasn't replied to my email from 2+ months ago despite numerous very polite follow ups from me, and bearing in mind its an email where I am asking for some information from him, about an issue he has been vocal about, so I can then proactively go out and help alleviate the problem myself (dumped rubbish!) which in the long run makes him and his area look better!

He has always been useless (his usual email response was 'leave it with me', not a word more!, and then you never hear back from him and nothing happens) but this is the worst so far, frustratingly he took the seat from an amazing councillor who made visible and long lasting changes to our area.

Is there anyone or anywhere I could flag to that he isn't being proactive etc?

It's just frustrating as I really put in loads of my own time as a resident to smarten up my area but get nothing back from the councillors

Is it a multi-member seat? You could try the others if so? Or just go straight to the council (executive, paid staff). He isn't going to become suddenly more active on this if you send him another email. I get that it's frustrating, but you can't make him do anything, so you might as well work around him.