A COUNCILLOR is still being paid to represent her Hampshire constituents and is now living in a country home in Somerset, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Conservative councillor Caroline Watts, who is being paid £5,500 a year for her role, has not been seen in Whiteley - where she represents residents - for months.

Mrs Watts, who last attended a Winchester City Council meeting last November, has made the move to the West Country with her husband who has set up a business there.

Cllr Watts stands accused of failing an electorate of 2,000 people because they cannot contact her and calls have been made for her to resign.

No one appears to know exactly where she lives or if she has a telephone number on which she can be called. Yesterday the Daily Echo made repeated attempts to find out if Cllr Watts was still receiving an allowance of £5,589 from Winchester City Council but was repeatedly knocked back.

Council press officers refused to tell the Daily Echo if Cllr Watts was still receiving her allowance, if she received any gifts as part of her role, if she used the mayoral car for business in the past 12 months or what expenses she had claimed.

Instead they offered to allow future access to statutory documents containing all this information, which should be freely available - but would not disclose it over the phone.

After repeated attempts officials finally confirmed last night that Cllr Watts was still being paid through taxpayers' money - something she is entitled to for attending a meeting in the past six months.

It is understood Tory group leader Councillor Barry Lipscomb or Whiteley colleague Councillor Kate Chapman have been dealing with any queries from residents.

A Conservative election pamphlet is now being sent to all residents in the Winchester part of Whiteley explaining her whereabouts.

But council leader and leader of the Liberal Democrat group Councillor Sheila Campbell has urged Cllr Watts to step down.

Cllr Campbell said: "I would hope that she has the decency to resign. I don't think a community like Whiteley is best served by having an absent councillor.

"If a councillor is no longer serving then it would be proper for her not to take the allowance."

Speaking about the city council's attempts to withhold information from the Daily Echo, Cllr Campbell added: "This information is in the public domain and as such it should be available. A question should be tabled in council if it is not.

"My information is entirely public and I have no problem with that."

Whiteley Parish Council chairman Pat Wright added: "We don't feel we are being represented properly. We feel short-changed as she is still getting her council allowance."

Cllr Watts has already been thrown off Whiteley Parish Council after failing to attend meetings for six months.

Despite having been elected until 2007, she is expected to resign shortly so an election can take place at the same time as the county council elections in May.

The Daily Echo has been unable to contact Mrs Watts for comment.