Senior councillors in Salford have come under fire for not attending meetings where major decisions affecting the city are made.
Attendance data on the council’s website shows that figures such as city mayor Paul Dennett and Coun Bob Clarke, the new leader of Salford’s Conservative opposition, missed a number of meetings in the past year they were expected to be at.
The city mayor was marked as being at 11 out of 19 meetings of his Labour cabinet team from June 2024 to May 2025.
As for full council meetings – which all elected members in Salford are expected to attend – Mr Dennett made it to five out of eight in the same time period.
Coun Clarke was marked as attending just one full council meeting between June 2024 and May 2025 – when he was announced the leader of the Conservative opposition on May 21 this year.
“These are not peripheral forums; they are the core of Salford’s democratic process,” said independent Coun Andrew Walters, leader of the Unwhipped opposition group, which includes two Lib Dem councillors.
“When leadership is exercised in name but not in presence, scrutiny and accountability suffer.”
Coun Walters added that the lack of attendance also extends to scrutiny meetings, where councillors are supposed to grill the council’s work and talk through ideas for improvements.
“At the in-person Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting in June 2025, only three councillors attended out of eleven,” Coun Walters said.
“Residents have the right to expect active, present, and engaged representation – particularly in committees designed to hold executive power to account. The data shows that this is not currently happening.”
Coun Clarke said outside his council role, he works overnight on the motorways, a job which he said involves “long, unsociable hours and work that is scheduled months in advance.”
“This can, on occasion, make it impossible to attend some meetings, especially those held during working hours”, he added.
“These commitments are not optional; they are vital infrastructure projects planned well in advance and cannot simply be cancelled or rescheduled to accommodate individual diaries.
“That said, I want to be clear: this does not mean I take my role as a councillor lightly. Quite the opposite. My fellow ward councillors and I work tirelessly and responsively for residents.”
Salford Labour said it requires councillors to give the highest level of dedication to the role, but said the reality is many have to juggle the responsibilities with families and careers outside of local government.
Labour dominates elections in Salford generally, currently holding 48 council seats out of 60.
A party spokesperson said: “As the party in control of Salford council, Labour must also balance the responsibilities of executive leadership with those of ward-level representation.
“With the largest group of councillors representing diverse communities across the city, we try our utmost to manage attendance strategically, ensuring that both council meetings and local commitments are covered effectively by distributing responsibilities across the group.”
Labour pointed out that its leaders – including the city mayor and deputy mayors – also hold roles which require external work on behalf of the council, such as at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and other places.
“Whilst these duties are essential to advancing Salford’s interests, strengthening partnerships and securing investment, they can occasionally clash with internal council meetings.”
Salford council said it is updating its online attendance log to “more accurately reflect the totality of the hard work that councillors do” rather than listing which meetings they sat in.
Surjit Tour, the city solicitor and monitoring officer, said: “Councillors are a crucial link between the residents of the city and the council. They play a vital role in representing the people of the city and making sure their voices are heard.
“Many councillors undertake more than one role and network directly with residents, partner organisations and stakeholders.
“This, along with other factors such as managing their employment responsibilities, their own health and family commitments, inevitably impacts on councillor attendance.
“The diverse nature of our city means there are often competing needs and priorities.
“Council meetings, regional and community meetings, partner meetings and events do from time to time conflict, impacting on councillors’ ability to attend all such meetings. Wherever possible, councillors work together to ensure there is representation at meetings.”
