NEW figures reveal Prestatyn councillor Peter Duffy as having the worst attendance record at county council meetings.
The Independent member, who represents the town’s central ward, has turned up to only one of the nine meetings he was scheduled to attend since January.
But Cllr Duffy, who runs his own glass merchant business, says there is an explanation behind his 11 per cent attendance record.
Other councillors have reported him to the ombudsman which he said has made him very stressed and caused him to stay away.
He said the ombudsman found no grounds for further action in the complaints.
“I didn’t want to get into bother, so I had to stay away.
“I go to all the Prestatyn Town Council meetings,” he said.
“I work for my constituents, I don’t keep getting voted back in because I don’t do anything.
“I work and stick with my constituents to help them, people who cannot help themselves.
Cllr Duffy added that he intends to attend more county council meetings from now on.
Of the authority’s 47 councillors, just nine have a 100 per cent attendance rate this year.
Yet all are receiving an allowance of at least £13,175 for their work as elected members.
Local government rules state councillors must attend at least one meeting every six months.
Jonathan Isaby, political director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Councillors get their allowances regardless of how much time or energy they actually spend on council business.
“Of course absences will occasionally be unavoidable, but serious questions certainly ought to be asked of those missing significant numbers of meetings and clearly voters can bear these figures in mind when deciding how to vote at the next election.”
None of the councillors on the performances scrutiny committee has attended all six of the meetings they have had since January.
And of the 36 members of Denbighshire’s planning committee, only 14 councillors have attended all three meetings held since the elections in May.
Details of all the councillors attendance records are available on the Denbighshire County Council website under ‘Council and Democracy’.