Streatham Common and Vale councillor Tom Rutland is now also a Labour parliamentary candidate, having won a selection contest last weekend in the East Worthing and Shoreham constituency. But there's been no sign yet of him taking advantage of that win to turn his attention back to Streatham, after several months in which he has missed a succession of council meetings and ward residents' surgeries.

Cllr Rutland's account on Twitter (X), once proud to assert his links to Streatham and Lambeth, now make almost no mention of his roles here. And on Sunday it appeared he had hidden a reply from a Streatham constituent, to a post he intended for readers in Worthing.

The councillor's absence came to the fore three weeks ago, when residents turned up to his advertised ward surgery to discuss local transport and travel issues - but he didn't. A constituent who asked staff at the venue, the Rookery Cafe at Streatham Common, reported them saying they hadn't seen him for months, if at all. That has since been confirmed by the BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service, according to news site MyLondon.

The Lambeth Council website still advertises Cllr Rutland's surgery as being at 5pm on the second Sunday of the month - even though that's when the Rookery Cafe closes, once the clocks go back at the end of October.

That seems to mean that he has failed in two "key duties", as set out by the council on its website: "to hold an advice surgery at least once monthly"; and to ensure that contact details, including "ward surgery location (opening dates and times)" are provided for publication on the site.

Cllr Rutland won his Lambeth seat in the local elections last May, and holds the position of Deputy Chief Whip in the Labour-dominated council. That role grants him an extra annual allowance of £5,202, on top of his basic councillor allowance of £12,014. He sits on three committees - Overview and Scrutiny, Pensions, and Standards - as well as in the full council.

But his record at Lambeth doesn't look, on paper at least, like one that many voters would miss. He has made only two, or arguably three, minuted contributions in council meetings over his 18 months there - one of which was in defence of the additional allowance payments to titled councillors, when they were opposed by the Greens. And his attendance record has become patchy this year. He attended 10 out of his first 11 town-hall meetings, to the end of January, but has turned up to only six more since, apologising for his absence from five.

His most substantial minuted contribution to a council meeting came in July, when he asked Cllr Rezina Chowdhury (Deputy Leader of the Council for Sustainable Lambeth and Clean Air) if she would meet him "to discuss transport issues in the outer parts of the borough, as well as the implementation of low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in Streatham". Cllr Chowdhury "stated that she would be happy to meet with the Member to discuss how they could work together to deliver ambitious plans for Streatham, which included bike storage and cycle routes", according to the minutes.

Until recently, Cllr Rutland was keen to talk about his attachment to Streatham. Introducing him as a local election candidate, the Lambeth Labour party website said he "lives in the ward and volunteers for the local food bank, at events on the Common and as a Covid-19 vaccinator. He is passionate about protecting the Common and our green spaces, tackling fly tipping and anti-social behaviour, and fixing local residents’ problems."

But he was campaigning away from Lambeth within a few months, attempting last year to get selected as Labour's general election candidate in High Wycombe. And now that he has won selection in Worthing, his profile on X makes no mention of his Lambeth roles. His name is displayed as "Tom Rutland for East Worthing and Shoreham", and his profile picture has too many boats in the background to have been taken in SW16.

The last mention of Streatham on his X account came almost two months ago, on 5th October, when he reposted a Lambeth Council tweet about the refurbishment of local tennis courts. "Tennis is simply the best sport... There will be plenty of options for Streatham residents to serve up an ace," he commented. Before that came the cancellation of the Streatham Common fun dog show in September, August's gas works on the A23 - when they were "causing serious disruption to public transport" - and Barbie at the Odeon in July: "10/10 must-see movie."

A tweet on Saturday was aimed solely at his new target constituency. "A lovely morning at Southwick Square Christmas Market with lots of people buying Christmas presents from local small businesses." It prompted a reply from a Streatham constituent, former councillor Nicholas McKay: "Shame you weren’t supporting the small businesses in the ward you are elected to represent in Streatham. If you are no longer interested in them do the decent thing and resign."

But that reply then essentially disappeared, after Cllr Rutland apparently turned it into a "hidden reply", visible only via a small icon under the post. Another tweet asking if he would resign as councillor crept in, but further replies are now blocked.

One fellow Labour councillor thought it unlikely that he would resign from his seat, unless and until he wins in Worthing. He was still doing casework, and attending meetings, the councillor said. Another expressed surprise at his absences from ward surgeries, saying he is "usually very conscientious".

But whether or not he is in fact doing any work on behalf of ward residents is unclear. Cllr Rutland had not responded to StreathamStuff's multiple attempts to contact him, by phone and email, at the time of publication. An automatic email reply on 26th November said that he was "away until mid-November". And residents emailing with casework should resend it to the ward's other councillors, it said.

East Worthing and Shoreham is held by the Conservatives, with a majority of just under 7,500. That puts it in 86th place on Labour's list of target seats, and makes a Labour win likely, given current polling.

Cllr Rutland's next scheduled ward surgery is this Sunday, December 10th. If its timing moves back to 4pm, in line with the cafe's opening hours, it will follow on from the end of the Rookery's Christmas Fair and Market.