For the benefit of Councillor Terry Neville, readers of your newspaper, and above all residents of Southbury ward, I would like to provide some balance to the points asserted by Cllr Neville in the pages of the Enfield Independent (‘Let the records show who turned up for meetings’, April 22), suggesting that too many councillors don’t pull their weight.

I am one of the many Labour backbenchers who can demonstrate a 100 per cent attendance record at Full Council in the past year.

During the five years since I was elected, I have missed only one such session. I have a 100 per cent attendance record in recent times for all the scrutiny, regular and intense sessions of planning and licensing, and many other committees on which I serve or chair.

Not only is my commitment and participation total, but when last measured – by the Tory Whip during the 2010/2014 cycle – my all-round attendance record of 98.8 per cent was set against the second highest actual number of official meetings (in hundreds not tens) attended by any backbencher from either side of the chamber.

This excludes any working meetings with officers necessary for the efficient and effective conduct of my duties, and I am regularly in the top five of all councillors in terms of the volume of casework undertaken.

Throughout my tenure in the council, I have held a minimum of two surgeries a month, supported numerous community events and activities, and been highly visible in my ward. Since the 2014 election, I have also organised three ward forums, and in the past nine months have engaged in just over 190 engagement sessions with residents on their doorsteps.

I more than work for the allowance, not salary, all councillors receive. My record speaks for itself and I am proud of it.

Finally, as a resident living in a ward where I had to endure two absentee Tory councillors for much of the 2010/14 administration (and there were others of that hue, long since dispatched, elsewhere besides), I put it to Cllr Neville that people living in glass houses should probably not be throwing stones.

Councillor Derek Levy

Lab/Southbury ward Enfield Borough Council