AN Allerdale Council seat has been made vacant after a councillor failed to attend any council meetings for over six months.

The seat belonged to Councillor Janet King who represented the Stainburn and Clifton ward on Allerdale Borough Council for the Allerdale Independent Party.

A spokesman for Allerdale Borough Council said:"Cllr King's seat became technically vacant from December 30 2021 due to non-attendance at a meeting of the Council for six months.

"We are therefore following the statutory process which involves publishing a Notice of Vacancy which can be found at allerdale.gov.uk/en/elections/member-vacancies".

Mrs King has recently moved to Australia to be near her son after going through a 'difficult time' with the loss of husband David King in 2020.

The councillor will still retain her seat on Workington Town Council however, until she has not attended a town council meeting for six months or if she wishes to resign.

Allerdale Independent Leader Paul Scott admitted the news of her departure had come as a surprise to him.

"As group leader," he said, "she has went through a really difficult time with the loss of her husband and she has now moved to be nearer to her family and to be fair she alway operated with dignity and we were really pleased to have her as part of our group.

"I wish her all the best in Australia where she has gone to live with her son."

Mr Scott commended the way that Mrs King has conducted herself throughout her time in politics, in particular some testing times she dealt with after information came out about her late husband David King when the historic articles setting out his criminal history were shared online by political opponents in 2019.

Mr Scott said: "She got an awful lot of flack about things that had happened before she even met David.

"It's terrible in politics how people drag negative and horrible things up from years and years ago and sour relationships that should never really be soured."

Allerdale will now follow a statutory process to elect a new borough councillor for the Stainburn and Clifton Ward, meaning a by-election for the seat could be called at some point in the near future.

Mrs King was approached for comment.