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Cllr Roy Shaw |
Stalwart to stand down
THE longest-serving councillor at the Town Hall is on the verge of stepping down from his position due to illness.
Former mayor Councillor Roy Shaw, 81, was triumphant in the Haverstock ward at last May’s elections, his twelfth ballot box win.
But since passing the record milestone of 50 years service at the Town Hall he has struggled with ill health and he is now being looked after at a care home.
Cllr Shaw has been notably absent at a series of meetings and is in breach of local government rules for missing more than six months of council business.
His inability to return to ward work is well known at the Town Hall among councillors from all parties but there is a reluctance to talk publicly about it with local politicians tip-toeing around the issue.
Haverstock is a split ward between Labour and the Liberal Democrats and will generate a close by-election battle. Cllr Shaw, a former tank operator in World War II, picked up extra votes on his popularity alone and Labour will be unable to find a candidate who can match his experience and political know-how.
He was re-elected last May against the tide of Labour’s overall landslide defeat.
The Lib Dems will be confident of their chances of capturing the seat after victory in the recent Kentish Town by-election, just a couple of wards away – but members are cautious about being held responsible for prematurely bringing the curtain down on Cllr Shaw’s council career by forcing a ballot.
Private talks at the Town Hall are thought to centre on a special send-off for Cllr Shaw and a by-election for late June or July.
A Town Hall press official said: “The process is that if a councillor is unable to attend meetings for six consecutive months then they cease to be a member of the authority and decision has to be made about the seat. Cllr Shaw is a very valued councillor at Camden and there have been talks with councillors over what should happen.”
Labour leader Councillor Anna Stewart said in January: “People who know him can be rest assured that he has been looked after very well while he has been unwell. His duties as a councillor have been fully covered.”
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