Agenda item

Preamble

A complaint had been made by Cllr Iain Wallis (The Complainant) of Devizes Town Council against Councillor Edward East (The Subject Member), also of Devizes Town Council.

The allegation was that the Subject Member had used his official role to confer a disadvantage to the Complainant in that:

a)    That the Subject Member refused to allow the Complainant to speak during Town Council Meetings on three separate occasions, the most recent being during the meeting of the Town Council on the 4th January 2022; and

b)    That the Subject Member stated to the Complainant his “Contribution has no value” during the meeting of the Town Council on the 4th January 2022.

Assessment

In assessing the complaint, the Sub-Committee were satisfied that the initial tests of the assessment criteria had been met, including that the Subject Member was a member for the period of allegations and remains a member of Devizes Town Council, that a copy of the relevant Code of Conduct was provided for the assessment, and that they were acting in their capacity as a Member during the alleged actions.

The Sub-Committee therefore had to decide whether the alleged behaviour would, if proven, amount to a breach of that Code of Conduct. If the Sub-Committee concluded that the alleged behaviour would amount to a breach, then it would have to go on to decide whether it was appropriate under the assessment criteria to refer the matter for investigation.  

Discussion

The Sub-Committee noted that the various allegations arose out of the council’s review of its Social Media Policy. 

The Sub-Committee also noted that due to the recent advancement and regular use of Social Media sites both locally and globally, many Councils were currently reviewing Policies to bring them in line with current usage and ways of working and that the review was not a result of an individual incident or members actions.   

The Sub-Committee further noted that the Subject Member and the Complainant represented different political parties on the Town Council and therefore there was likely to be differing viewpoints as to why actions may or may not be taken by the other. 

The Sub-Committee also considered the comprehensive assessment provided by the Independent Person, including publicly available details relating to a local Social Media site for the Devizes area which it was reported that the Complainant was the administrator. 

The Sub-Committee considered the allegations relating to the Subject Member, in his role as Chairman, preventing the Complainant, who was not a committee member, from speaking at the Community and Civic Resources (CCR) Committee meeting on 4 January 2022. The Sub-Committee noted that all Devizes Town Council Members, not on the CCR Committee were able to submit comments on the draft Policy ahead of the meeting, and were in addition invited at the meeting, to submit comments on the draft policy to the Chairman for consideration by the working group.  

The Sub-Committee further considered the background and response of the Subject Member to the allegations and noted that the Subject Members intention to send the draft Policy back to a working group for further review, and his interpretation of Standing Orders relating to speakers at the meeting, had steered his initial decision not to take comments from those in attendance, however, it was also noted that the Complainant had then been allowed to make a brief statement to the Committee.  

The Sub-Committee noted that there was no direct evidence to support the allegations that there had been other occasions where the complainant had been stopped from speaking, and that the timeframe of such other alleged incidents would fall outside of the time frame prescribed under the arrangements for dealing with Code of Conduct complaints adopted by the Council.  Therefore, the Sub-Committee determined that it was not able to include those elements in its considerations.

The Sub-Committee determined that the actions did not reach the threshold to amount to a breach of the Code of Conduct and therefore there was no justification for referring the complaint for investigation and therefore determined that no further action should be taken on the complaint. 

Conclusion

The Sub-Committee noted that the behaviour appeared to arise out of a historic clash of styles and personalities between the Complainant and the Subject Member. 

The Sub-Committee concluded that the alleged behaviour would not amount to a breach, and that it was not appropriate under the assessment criteria to refer the matter for investigation and therefore there should be no further action on the complaint. 

In reaching its decision, the Sub-Committee took into account the original complaint and supporting information, the response of the Subject Member, and the report of the Monitoring Officer. 

Resolved:

In accordance with the approved arrangements for resolving standards complaints adopted by Council on 9 July 2019, which came into effect on 1 January 2020 and after hearing from the Independent Person, the Assessment Sub-Committee determined to take no further action on the complaint.