The councillor who lives 450 miles from his constituency (but still manages to claim £4,000 in expenses)

But residents in a rural North Yorkshire community have been astonished to discover that their local councillor is representing them from his new home 450 miles away in the Outer Hebrides.

Mr Alderson has continued to claim his £4,400 a year expenses for carrying out his work as a member of Craven District Council, but has not attended a meeting for five months.

A complaint about the absent councillor has been made to the local government watchdog, the Standards Board of England, by the Craven Ratepayers Action Group (CRAG) and investigation could now be carried out.

Mr Alderson has dismissed the criticism, insisting he can still do his jobs as a councillor and a member of his local parish council effectively, by staying in touch with the electorate using new technology.

Councillors must attend at least one meeting every six months and he is expected to escape the axe by going to next week's district council annual general meeting.

Mr Alderson, who moved to Stornoway for a new job working for Harris Tweed, said: "I still have my spies in the village. They tell me if things aren't happening or if there's anything untoward going on.

"As far as Craven District Council is concerned I have not been to meetings but I have been involved throughout and am still in contact through email and telephone. Anybody - anybody at all - who wants to can contact me."

Mr Alderson, an independent councillor, last attended a council meeting in December, yet he has claimed his full basic allowance of £3,800 and a basic IT allowance of £600 for the year to March 2007.

A spokeswoman for Craven District Council said Mr Alderson's official permanent residence was still in the Yorkshire village of Cowling, although he was now based in Stornoway.

Defending his position, she said: "Councillor Alderson is keeping in touch with his electorate.

"If there is any problem in his constituency then provision has been made for another independent councillor to take it up on his behalf.

"He is in regular contact with the parish clerk and dealing with emails regarding his ward."

Despite these reassurances, anyone attempting to contact Mr Alderson by phone using the number on the council's official website will hear the message: "This number does not receive incoming calls."

Mr Alderson has been the councillor for the Cowling area since 2000 and is due for re-election in 2008.

Initially when he moved to the Hebrides for work reasons he said he would consider his position after a few months, but critics claim he should now quit.

Alan Perrow of CRAG, who narrowly lost to Mr Alderson at the last election, said: "At the time this seemed fair and reasonable because he is not to know if the new job is going to work out.

"But in the next five months he has not attended a meeting but has claimed his full allowances.

"When you are being paid £90 a week we do not think it is at all reasonable to be trying to represent people when you are 450 miles away.

"When people hear about this they will just think, 'well, this is what we've come to expect from politicians.'"

Cowling, the village the councillor represents, is seven miles from the Yorkshire Dales town of Skipton.

It takes 11 hours, including a three hour ferry crossing, to reach Stornoway in the Western Isles.