A COUNCILLOR faces the axe because he has not attended enough meetings.

Labour man Keith Murray-Hetherington, who has represented Stanley on Durham County Council since 1997, has been at eight meetings in the past two years.

Now he stands to lose his seat because he has not turned-up in the past six months.

Unless he can prove the council's attendance record is wrong he will forfeit his place on the council and his monthly allowance, which is worth £7,200 a year.

Councillor Murray-Hetherington is a magistrate and recently resigned as chairman of the Derwentside Primary Care Trust, a post paying up to £20,420 for a three-day week, to spend more time on his "other personal commitments".

He has resisted calls from Labour leader Ken Manton to stand down and last month insisted he would continue as a councillor after quitting the party in protest at New Labour.

The Standards Board - the watchdog of councillors' behaviour - rejected his complaint about Councillor Manton's conduct in the matter.

Coun Manton said: "Having resigned from the primary care trust and having forfeited his seat on the county council, he should now have plenty of extra time on his hands for those other commitments and I wish him well in his endeavours.

"It is not very often that a councillor falls foul of the six-month rule and it is a great pity when it happens."

Coun Murray-Hetherington, who was Derwentside District Council's youngest chairman in 1991, declined to comment.

North Durham Labour MP Kevan Jones said: "This at least gives local people a chance to elect a county councillor who will represent them."