Last month I reported on how a Labour councillor – Cllr Adam Connell – was being paid £540 an hour for chairing the Planning Committee. There is little to do as proposals for new homes have dried up since Labour took over the Council. Two meetings of his committee were cancelled altogether.

Nor has he attended any extra meetings with developers.

I emailed Cllr Connell to ask if he would be continuing to claim his full “Special Responsibility Allowance”.

He has replied that he will. Cllr Connell says:

“Sorry about the delay in getting back to you, I have been busy cleaning up the mess that you and your Conservative colleagues left with your approach to planning in Hammersmith and Fulham.”

There is no detail as to quite what he has been “busy” doing to justify his £5,664.70 a year from the Council Taxpayer to attend such short and infrequent meetings of his committee.

For that matter what is he doing to earn his £8,940 a year as a ward councillor? Does he take weeks to reply to residents from Addison Ward seeking his help and then explain his delay is due to how “busy” he has been?