Postcard for Cllr Moylan

According to the council website, Cllr Moylan has on occasions had council papers sent to him abroad by courier, paid for by the council.

This is to enable him to continue with his council duties. In 2008/9 the council coughed up over £800 to do this, that's enough to get you to Thailand and back!

The council say he has reason to travel abroad on private business and that he has a holiday home overseas.

Hornet has looked at his declaration of interests and can see he holds various positions on various companies, mostly associated with property, and all seem to have UK based portfolios. This is publicly held information freely available, you can see it for yourself on the RBKC website, or the website of TFL.

Now that got us wondering....

If you need your council papers couriered to you because you are away on business, you must be away for quite some time. If you were popping over to Frankfurt for a business lunch, or to Paris to meet a client, then you wouldnt be away for weeks at a time, would you? 

If that is the case, and it was a quick jog over to London City, nip over to the continent on one of those whispering jets, do the business and then back again, why would you need your council papers couriered to you?

But then, if you were away for weeks at a time, then what use are the papers to you? You cant attend a meeting in the Town Hall, you are out of the country, and on business, so wouldnt have the time...?

But if you are away for weeks at a time, what about your constituents who elected you?

Then we noticed the council said "he has a holiday home overseas", so then it all kinds of adds up. 

How many of these couriered papers are sent while Cllr Moylan is relaxing in his holiday home? Does it count as a "business trip" if he has to be there while his home is fixed, or repaired or improved?

Most people in the real world have jobs that require them to take their vacation at approved times, usually when the business can accommodate you not being around.   

Hornet tried the Moylan approach with her employer, can they courier the work out to her as she intends bug**r off and sit on a roof terrace in Tunisia sipping some dry white wine for the next two weeks. The employer offered to personally deliver her a P45 instead, to her desk the same afternoon for suggesting such a laughable request.


So why should being an elected councillor be any different?

If the council business is so important that it needs his attention, why on earth does he decide to swan off on holiday at this critical point? 

Or, if his business interests conflict time-wise to such an extent with his duties as councillor, then he surely needs to consider his position, rather than have the best of both worlds leaving the council tax payer to pick up the courier bill.