Four councillors are representing areas of Merton without even living in the borough or even the capital - and they are still allowed to withdraw their annual allowance.

Labour's Leighton Veale lives in Cardiff while Jonathan Warne, Conservative, represents his constituents from Glasgow. Marc Hanson, Conservative, and Steve Austin, Labour, both live outside London.

Under Government rules, a councillor must live in the borough to become elected but they are free to claim Merton's basic allowance of £8,000 a year, even if they subsequently move elsewhere.

Leader of Merton's Labour group, Stephen Alambritis, criticised his councillors for leaving a "democratic deficit" in their ward and called for the law to be changed.

He said: "These councillors haven't decided to get elected and then abscond elsewhere. There are good reasons for them to leave.

"But I can't, as leader of their group, freeze their allowance or force them to live in their ward. The residents can take a view on this but I do have sympathy.

"I don't want to be hyper critical of my councillors but they are aware of my views even though I can't take any action."

He added: "There should be national legislation that stops this from happening but there's very little that we can do about it at the moment. The situation leaves a real democratic deficit."

However, Merton's Conservative council leader David Williams said that this was "not a big deal", adding that his councillors were still able to communicate with their ward.

He said: "It is still pretty easy for them to keep in touch with their constituency. They still attend council meetings and do what they are required to do.

"Certainly our party and I'm sure the Labour party will take a view if it's appropriate to stay on as councillor. But if you cease to meet the criteria for standing as a councillor it certainly doesn't mean you have to resign."

He added: "There are countless examples of people moving out of the area after they have been elected. It's a non-event. Think about a member of parliament who managing to do their business and represent their constituents in Westminster, often hundreds of miles away."

Peter Southgate, leader of Merton Park's independent councillors, said he was surprised by the extent of the problem He said: "From our perspective, it's obviously a requirement that we live, not just in the borough but in our own ward so that we know the patch at a grass roots level."

"Obviously there are some questions for the two major groups if they have councillors who are no longer resident in the borough."

He added: "Think about how we're trying to reinvigorate new style community forums and increase participation within local government. Clearly the ideal is for a councillor to live among the people that he or she represents."