HE has loyally served his local community for more than half a century - but now Dennis Baxter has been ‘sacked’ from a parish council near York because he can’t attend meetings by Zoom.

Strensall Parish Council has disqualified Cllr Baxter and also another elderly member, Raymond Maher, who also ‘doesn’t do’ Zoom video-conferencing.

Chairman Tony Fisher said the council had no choice but to disqualify them under national rules relating to attendance at meetings.

He said meetings had been held virtually on Zoom since the start of the pandemic and the councillors had not been able to attend.

He said Cllr Baxter did not have a computer and Cllr Maher had one but ‘doesn’t do’ Zoom.

“We took advice from the Yorkshire Local Councils Association and the rules are quite clear,” he said. “If a member doesn’t attend meetings for six months without a good reason, they must be disqualified.

“If we had not disqualified the two councillors, every decision the parish council then made that they participated in would have been unlawful.”

He said people could give their apologies and remain on parish councils if they were, for example, suffering a long term illness or were in the reserves and serving in Afghanistan, but not being able to attend because they can’t use Zoom was not considered a sufficient reason.

He said it was "quite sad", as Dennis had been a parish councillor for more than 50 years, "but we have no choice".

He said that when normal parish council meetings resumed, perhaps in July, it would be open to members to co-opt the two councillors back on to the council.

News of the councillor’s disqualification came in a letter to The Press, in which a resident said it had been brought to their attention that the parish council’s longest serving councillor had been sacked after more than 50 years as a member.

“Before lockdown, Mr Baxter was regularly seen litter picking on the playing field in front of the village hall and regularly attended their meetings,” they said.

“He is an elderly gentleman and I’m told he, along with another elderly long-term serving councillor, have been sacked because they do not have a computer.”

Cllr Baxter confirmed he had been sacked from the parish council but said he did not wish to comment. Cllr Maher confirmed he did not use Zoom but said he was not aware of being disqualified from the parish council.

Other councillors elsewhere in Yorkshire have been affected by the six-month rule and their ability to attend meetings virtually.

A member of Craven District Council was disqualified last year because he failed to attend a council meeting for six months via video-conferencing, sparking an angry backlash from his supporters.

The NALC (National Association of Local Councils) said it was recognised that some councillors would not necessarily have the facility to engage fully with ‘Zoom’ but this wasn’t deemed an acceptable reason for absence.