Phoenix FM has obtained information for both Brentwood Borough Council and Essex County Council showing which councillors are dealing with the most residents’ casework and attending the most meetings.

The hardest working councillors in Brentwood are William Lloyd, Phil Mynott, Julie Morrissey and Karen Chilvers – while some councillors have attended very few meetings or dealt with no casework in the last year, according to a new survey from Brentwood First.

The group recently requested details of the amount of member casework registered along with attendance records for every councillor in the last 12 months from Brentwood Borough Council’s officers, and have assembled the statistics below.

Russell Quirk from Brentwood First said, “It is astonishing that there are elected councillors in Brentwood that deem it acceptable to shirk their civic responsibilities by attending to almost zero casework. In particular, Cllr Alan Braid dealt with precisely NO residents at all, based on the information obtained and that tracks the official casework system that the current Conservative administration set up there years ago to ensure accountability.

“With regard to member attendance, the least visible councillor is again a Conservative with Cllr Cheralyn Beeston visiting the council chamber just three times in 2013. That’s once every four months.

“Each councillor earns an annual allowance of £5,950 to compensate them for the time spent in their civic role. Committee chairmen, vice chairmen and spokesperson earn a lot more. All of these positions of special responsibility are currently occupied by Conservative councillors. By way of demonstrating value for money (or not) as the case may be, Cllr Beeston earned £1983.33 for each meeting that she attended last year. A typical meeting lasts for between two and three hours.

“The Brentwood taxpayer votes in the belief that their representative will stand up, speak out and resolve their planning, street care or housing related issues and such like. Yet we see here that many of those representatives are simply taking the money with little given to their residents in return. Voters might like to consider those that are the worst offenders when they next visit the ballot box in May.”

Cllr Mike Le-Surf, leader of the Labour group, said “Once again we see that Conservative councillors provide dreadful value for money to Brentwood residents compared with their opposition colleagues in the borough. It is pleasing to see that both Labour councillors are in the top six regarding the aggregate score for casework and meeting attendance.

“In contrast, the fact that the Tories have only one councillor in the top ten (at tenth) and have nine councillors in the bottom ten says it all about their arrogance and contempt for the electorate.”

Regarding Essex County Council, Phoenix FM has obtained information regarding casework enquiries made by each County Councillor since the member enquiry system started back in May 2011.

It will come as no surprise that the most enquiries have been put in by Cabinet members or Leaders of Groups. David Kendall from Brentwood and Ray Howard from Canvey Island are the only two backbenchers to have made it into the top ten.

The top three in Brentwood have all been using the system since it started back in May 2011. Cllr Hirst has only been using the system since he was elected in May 2013.

David Kendall said, “I am proud to have made it into the top ten in Essex for the number of casework enquiries I have put in on behalf of my residents. Whilst these figures only represent a small part of what being a County Councillor involves they do show that with 416 enquiries I and my Brentwood colleague Cllr Barry Aspinall are in there fighting for the residents we represent and trying to get action taken on their behalf”.

Phoenix FM asked Conservative group leader Louise McKinlay for her comments but did not receive a reply.

Overall ranking (based on average of meeting/casework placing)

1. William Lloyd (Brentwood First)
2. Phil Mynott (Liberal Democrat)
3. Julie Morrissey (Labour)
3. Karen Chilvers (Liberal Democrat)
5. Russell Quirk (Brentwood First)
6. Mike Le-Surf (Labour)
7. Vicky Davies (Liberal Democrat)
8. Barry Aspinell (Liberal Democrat)
9. Mark Reed (Conservative)
10. Phil Baker (Brentwood First)
11. Linda Golding (Conservative)
12. Jan Pound (Conservative)
12. Will Russell (Conservative)
14. Roger McCheyne (Conservative)
14. James Sapwell (Liberal Democrat)
16. Keith Parker (Conservative)
16. Roger Hirst (Conservative)
18. Ross Carter (Liberal Democrat)
19. Sheila Murphy (Conservative)
20. Chris Hossack (Conservative)
20. Louise McKinlay (Conservative)
22. Nigel Clarke (Brentwood First)
22. Noelle Hones (Conservative)
24. David Kendall (Liberal Democrat)
24. Liz Cohen (Liberal Democrat)
26. David Tee (Conservative)
27. John Kerslake (Conservative)
28. Graeme Clark (Liberal Democrat)
29. Claire Cornell (Conservative)
30. Roger Keeble (Independent)
31. Ann Coe (Conservative)
32. Ann Naylor (Conservative)
33. Keith Sparling (Conservative)
34. Cheralyn Beeston (Conservative)
35. Tony Sleep (Conservative)
36. Alan Braid (Conservative)
37. Madeline Henwood (Conservative)

Ranked in order of attendance:

1. Keith Parker (Conservative) – 34
1. Russell Quirk (Brentwood First) – 34
3. Roger McCheyne (Conservative) – 32
3. Linda Golding (Conservative) – 32
3. Phil Mynott (Liberal Democrat) – 32
6. William Lloyd (Brentwood First) – 31
6. Noelle Hones (Conservative) – 31
8. Phil Baker (Brentwood First) – 30
9. Julie Morrissey (Labour) – 29
10. Sheila Murphy (Conservative) – 28
10. Jan Pound (Conservative) – 28
10. Mike Le-Surf (Labour) – 28
13. John Kerslake (Conservative) – 27
13. Will Russell (Conservative) – 27
13. Karen Chilvers (Liberal Democrat) – 27
16. David Tee (Conservative) – 26
16. Mark Reed (Conservative) – 26
16. James Sapwell (Liberal Democrat) – 26
19. Nigel Clarke (Brentwood First) – 24
19. Vicky Davies (Liberal Democrat) – 24
21. Claire Cornell (Conservative) – 22
21. Roger Hirst (Conservative) – 22
21. Barry Aspinell (Liberal Democrat) – 22
24. Ann Coe (Conservative) – 21
25. Roger Keeble (Independent) – 20
25. Graeme Clark (Liberal Democrat) – 20
27. Keith Sparling (Conservative) – 19
27. Chris Hossack (Conservative) – 19
27. Ross Carter (Liberal Democrat) – 19
30. Alan Braid (Conservative) – 17
31. David Kendall (Liberal Democrat) – 16
32. Ann Naylor (Conservative) – 15
33. Tony Sleep (Conservative) – 13
34. Louise McKinlay (Conservative) – 12
35. Madeline Henwood (Conservative) – 11
35. Liz Cohen (Liberal Democrat) – 11
37. Cheralyn Beeston (Conservative) – 3

Ranked in order of dealing with residents’ casework:

1. Karen Chilvers (Liberal Democrat) – 216
2. William Lloyd (Brentwood First) – 211
3. Barry Aspinell (Liberal Democrat) – 181
4. Vicky Davies (Liberal Democrat) – 140
5. Julie Morrissey (Labour) – 135
6. Louise McKinlay (Conservative) – 105
7. Mike Le-Surf (Labour) – 85
8. Liz Cohen (Liberal Democrat) – 80
9. Mark Reed (Conservative) – 65
10. Phil Mynott (Liberal Democrat) – 58
11. Ross Carter (Liberal Democrat) – 52
12. David Kendall (Liberal Democrat) – 47
13. Chris Hossack (Conservative) – 44
14. Russell Quirk (Brentwood First) – 42
14. Roger Hirst (Conservative) – 42
16. Will Russell (Conservative) – 41
16. James Sapwell (Liberal Democrat) – 41
18. Phil Baker (Brentwood First) – 35
19. Jan Pound (Conservative) – 33
20. Ann Naylor (Conservative) – 30
21. Graeme Clark (Liberal Democrat) – 27
22. Nigel Clarke (Brentwood First) – 25
23. Roger Keeble (Independent) – 21
24. Linda Golding (Conservative) – 16
25. Cheralyn Beeston (Conservative) – 14
26. Claire Cornell (Conservative) – 9
27. Ann Coe (Conservative) – 6
28. David Tee (Conservative) – 5
29. Keith Sparling (Conservative) – 4
29. Sheila Murphy (Conservative) – 4
29. Roger McCheyne (Conservative) – 4
32. John Kerslake (Conservative) – 3
33. Madeline Henwood (Conservative) – 2
33. Tony Sleep (Conservative) – 2
35. Noelle Hones (Conservative) – 1
35. Keith Parker (Conservative) – 1
37. Alan Braid (Conservative) – 0

County councillors ranked in order of casework:

1. Derrick Louis (Conservative) – 1,223 [Cabinet Member]
2. David Finch (Conservative) – 474 [Leader of the Council]
3. Rodney Bass (Conservative) – 376 [Cabinet Member]
4. John Aldridge (Conservative) – 364 [Cabinet Member]
5. Anne Brown (Conservative) – 362 [Deputy Cabinet Member]
6. Kevin Bentley (Conservative) – 356 [Cabinet Member]
7. David Kendall (Liberal Democrat) – 313 [Backbencher]
8. Chris Pond (Independent) – 312 [Leader of Independent Group]
9. Ray Howard (Conservative) – 281 [Backbencher]
10. Julie Young (Labour) – 276 [Leader of the Labour Group]

Among Brentwood’s County Councillors:

1. David Kendall (Liberal Democrat) – 313*
2. Anne Naylor Conservative) – 247*
3. Barry Aspinell (Liberal Democrat) – 103*
4. Roger Hirst (Conservative) – 32**

*since May 2011 **since May 2013