Knowsley councillors attended 78% of their scheduled meetings on average, the council’s published attendance records show — but three members sit well below that mark.
The records, kept on the council’s ModernGov system, log how often each councillor turns up to the meetings they are appointed to: full council, committees and the other bodies they serve on. Against the 78% average, the figures show:
- Cllr Marie E Stuart (Labour, Northwood) — 29%
- Cllr Ian Smith (Liberal Democrat, Prescot North) — 45%
- Cllr Chantelle Lunt (Green, St Gabriels) — 56%
Attendance is one public measure of a councillor’s work, and not the whole of it. Members also represent residents through casework, surgeries and ward business that the meeting record does not capture. A low figure can also reflect entirely legitimate reasons — ill health, caring responsibilities or paid work — and the published total does not, on its own, distinguish between them.
The record exists because councillors are elected to represent residents at the meetings where decisions are taken, and the law requires their attendance to be published so the public can see it.
We have invited each councillor to comment. Cllr Stuart can be contacted at marie.stuart@knowsley.gov.uk and Cllr Smith at Ian.Smith@knowsley.gov.uk. Cllr Lunt can be reached through the council’s member services contact at member.services@knowsley.gov.uk. Any response will be added here.
Every councillor’s attendance is published on the council’s councillors’ attendance pages, where the full meeting-by-meeting breakdown for each member can be read.
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