AN ANGRY resident who sees himself as a Robin Hood-style campaigner is gaining support in his bid to ban absent councillors claiming £10,000 allowances.

Architect Clive Newson launched a petition last month calling on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) to change rules for councillors who move away.

A councillor can move anywhere in the world but keep their job and allowance as long as they attend a council meeting once every six months.

They are not obliged to hold surgeries or even speak to residents.

Mr Newson was spurred into action after we reported how West Wickham councillor Chris Wordingham moved to Devon and Chelsfield and Pratts Bottom councillor Adrian Marshall moved to Sussex.

Both councillors continue to draw their basic allowance of nearly £10,000 a year and claimed they were still able to do their job.

But Mr Newson, 68, of Orpington, disagrees and said: "I feel like a peasant, ruled by the manor, because of the way our taxes are used. I feel like being Robin Hood."

Following a News Shopper article, he has been swamped with calls of support.

Father-of-three John Ratcliff, 62, said: "It's not criminal but it's morally outrageous, a scandalous disgrace."

"They can turn up to two meetings a year and do nothing but sit on a chair to get their money."

Mr Ratcliff, of Mooreland Road, Bromley, said: "Bromley is a rotten borough, they refuse gay marriages to tax payers yet when two councillors leave the borough there isn't a peep."

David Vernau, 58, of Main Road, Old St Paul's Cray said: "Where's our value for money? The situation is crazy."

And Mary Lower, a justice of the peace from Nottingham wants the rules changed after a local councillor moved to the West Indies and still claimed his allowance.

Council leader councillor Stephen Carr says a change in the rules would not work because it is difficult to measure councillors' time outside meetings.

He added Bromley councillors get less money than those in other boroughs and they put in a lot of time into serving residents.