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Camden New Journal - by RICHARD OSLEY
Published: 20 September 2007

Critics hit at absentee councillor

A LIBERAL Democrat councillor who has moved out of the borough intends to carry on at the Town Hall.
Councillor Arthur Graves said that he would still be able to work for his constituents in the Belsize ward despite moving house beyond the borough boundaries to a new family home on the Islington side of Tufnell Park.
He said that high house prices in Camden meant that he had to look elsewhere for a new house.
Cllr Graves, who is due to be a father at the start of November, said: “I would have loved to have bought a similar sized place in Belsize but unfortunately it would have cost us at least £400,000 more than we paid for this place. The joy of being Belsize, I guess.”
Councillors must show that they either live or work in the borough.
In a similar case, Cllr Graves’ Lib Dem colleague Cllr Libby Campbell was criticised last year for standing in Camden Town, miles from her home in Turnpike Lane in Haringey.
Labour rivals are now understood to be investigating whether Cllr Graves still qualifies for a seat on the council.
On his register of interest, Cllr Graves’ lists his profession simply as a ‘local councillor’.
One of Labour’s own councillors, Abdul Hai, lives out of the borough but he works in his King’s Cross ward and has strong family ties to the area.
“We are transparent about it,” said one party member. “We need to see what the rules are on this.”

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