Councillor faces resignation demands

Mrs Blackmore admits face-to-face meetings are difficult

A councillor who moved to Bermuda shortly after being elected is facing calls to stand down over claims she cannot perform her duties while she is 3,500 miles away.

Annabelle Blackmore was elected to Maidstone Borough Council in May as a Conservative member for the Marden and Yalding ward.

But she left Kent a few weeks later when her husband was sent on secondment to Bermuda by his employers.

Following calls for her resignation, Maidstone Borough Council has referred the performance and attendance of councillors to its standards committee.

The committee will meet to decide whether to lobby the government to change the rules on councillors' attendance.

If you live in Bermuda you cannot be local, available and active in your community Councillor Mick Stevens

Under existing laws, a councillor can only be disqualified if they fail to attend a borough council meeting every six months.

Mrs Blackmore said: "I understand the need for a change as one meeting every six months is too low in terms of attendance.

"I think people have misunderstood my situation. This is a temporary posting not a permanent move.

"I agree face-to-face meetings are difficult, but there are three other elected members for the ward."

Phone link

She says she had not known about her husband's secondment when she stood for the post and has returned twice to Kent since leaving for Bermuda in May. Her next visit will be in January.

A freephone number - 0800 279 2997 - has been set up in order to make it easier for residents to contact her abroad.

Councillor Mick Stevens, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the council, has led the calls for her to stand down.

He said: "If you live in Bermuda you cannot be local, available and active in your community.

"There is absolutely no way she can fulfil her role as a councillor.

"Most councillors spend at least one day a week walking around their ward. There's no way she can do that. It's impossible.

"I have asked her to resign, but she is still holding on to the belief she can do her job. I think she deliberately misled the electorate and should go."