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21 September 2023
Well, I was going to blog at the weekend about the last Council meeting on 19 September – which was amazing.
However, the Chair of Hughenden Parish Council has convened an Extraordinary meeting on Tuesday in order (amongst other things) to consider proposals from Cllr Main, the deputy Chair. These proposals ask Council to impose further sanctions on me which would disenfranchise my constituents.
So I thought you ought to know pretty quickly.
Here are Cllr Main’s proposals (I hope I have copied the correct version as I have already been sent two); -
“Having seen no clear evidence from Cllr Derrick, that she will carry out all the required sanctions imposed on her, and my understanding that this, in itself, is a breach of the Councillor Code of Conduct, both in word and spirit. Aside from this, as a member of the HR Committee, I would like to propose that council put in place the following operational procedures to protect the wellbeing of the Hughenden Parish Council Clerk (current and future, including Locums), other officers and councillors. This is also aligned with the Civility and Respect pledge that the council has committed to.
My proposal includes:
1. Council request that Cllr Derrick should not email the Clerk or any council officers directly, from either her HPC address or personal address.
2. Council request that Cllr Derrick should not telephone the council office, the clerk or officers directly.
3. Council request that Cllr Derrick immediately remove the Clerk's name from ALL her blogs, as per the clerk's personal request.
4. Council request that Cllr Derrick not be permitted to use the names of councillors and officers in her public blog or communications.
5. Council request that Cllr Derrick email the Council Chair (ONLY), if she wishes to raise a matter of council business.
6. Council request that Cllr Derrick should not copy Debra Main (and any other any councillors wishing to be added) into emails.
7. That the council post a statement on its website (and if necessary, social media channels) to distance itself from such behaviour and state that it is taking such action to make a stand against the bullying and harassing behaviour from this councillor to both its staff, and other councillors. The council aims to operate in a fully transparent manner and welcomes the public scrutiny of its decisions but cannot continue to tolerate the impact this councillor has on its operations.
8. That the council take action to restrict or remove her HPC IT usage if Cllr Derrick fails to comply with these operational procedures.
Draft Website Statement
The Hughenden Parish council is committed to embedding the Civility and Respect Pledge throughout its organisation, including its day-to-day activities, council debate and decision making. It does not tolerate behaviour that falls short of this commitment.
Earlier this year the council made the difficult decision to sanction one of its councillors and require her to carry out some remediation activities. Sadly, Cllr Derrick has failed to demonstrate any willingness to understand the impact of her behaviour, and much less, to apologise and correct her actions. The council has now decided to implement the following procedures to protect the wellbeing of its councillors and staff. The council will continue to operate in a fully transparent manner and welcomes public scrutiny of its decisions but cannot tolerate the impact Cllr Derrick has on its wider operations.”
And here is the e-mail I sent to the Clerk in response: -
“Dear Alice
You wrote today to Council on behalf of Cllr Jones, Chair to Hughenden Parish Council. You attached an Appendix “relating to upcoming Extraordinary Meeting of Council on 26th September 2023.” The Appendix contained proposals from Cllr Main. I understand that this Appendix is no longer confidential.
As you have resigned with effect from 3 October, it will presumably be for your successor to implement, if the Council agrees these proposals. It would therefore be prudent for you to ensure that these proposals, if implemented, are lawful.
You will be aware that HPC has a Complaints Policy and Procedure at Complaints-Procedure-Resolved-March-2020.pdf (hughenden-pc.gov.uk). You will note that paragraph 2.3 c), says “In the event of a complaint relating to a Member’s failure to comply with the Code of Conduct, the complainant will be advised to make their complaint to BC’s Standards Committee.”
If these are new complaints, then the complainant should be referred to BC.
However, it appears that the proposals are actually for further sanctions to be imposed on me by Council on top of the sanctions already imposed by Council. The sanctions imposed on 3 April this year by the Council were recommended by Bucks Council after a long and formal process. The additional sanctions now proposed have not been through any process.
Either way, you might seek advice from Bucks Council but my understanding of previous case law is that what Cllr Main proposes is not lawful.
I also have to say that if these proposals go ahead, the press may well pick up the story. This will not be helpful to the Council nor individuals at HPC. As far as I am concerned, I have been in the press and on radio and TV for many years and I am accustomed to what can happen. It can be a daunting experience and sometimes unpleasant.
I also have to add that I e-mailed the Chair yesterday to offer help, if asked. However, otherwise, I said I would keep in touch with the Council but not get involved. I would only come to Council meetings. I would of course continue to represent my constituents.
In my view, the proposals by Cllr Main would not only be unlawful and disenfranchise my constituents but would also be counterproductive; rather than letting things calm down, the proposals would cause problems to my constituents and give rise to damaging press coverage.”
All I need add is that: -
a) There was only one requirement for me to action in the sanctions imposed on me in April. That was to undertake some training.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, I wrote to the Chair of HPC on 11 September, copied to HPC councillors amongst others, explaining in detail why I had not been able to meet this requirement. One of the reasons was that the training offered was not authorised by Council; one of the other reasons was that the training I requested in June from the Clerk had not been actioned.
b) I have had no face-to face contact or telephone contact with any of the staff at HPC apart from at Council meetings since at least June.
The only contact has been by e-mail. As the Council has not complied with its Complaints Policy and Procedures and maintained confidentiality, I am very happy to copy all my e-mails to HPC staff and all their responses to anyone who wishes to see them. The vast majority of my e-mails have already been copied to committee members of Widmer End Residents Association
As normal, I will leave it to you to make up your own minds as to whether it is reasonable for the Council to disenfranchise my constituents.
I will blog about the last Council meeting when I have time.