Members of the Council may be aware that Councillor Harry Coates has had a period of ill-health. He last attended a meeting of the authority on 30 July 2020 when he attended the meeting of the Council that day.
Section 35 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 states that if a member of a local authority fails throughout a period of six consecutive months to attend any meeting of the authority, he shall, unless the failure was due to some reason approved by the authority, cease to be a member of the authority.
It is understood that Councillor Coates’s continuing ill-health may preclude him from attending a meeting of the authority before the end of January 2021 i.e. the end of the period of 6 consecutive months from 30 July 2020. Accordingly, the Council is asked to approve Councillor Coates’s ill-health as the reason for his failure to attend any meetings of the Council since 30 July 2020.