19 January 2023
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As a councillor, I am required to be open and accountable to those I represent.
So, I think residents should know that I have received seven complaints alleging I have breached Hughenden Parish Council’s Code of Conduct. These complaints were made to the Monitoring Officer (MO) in Bucks Council.
I received one complaint in August 2021 about actions I took before I became a councillor (see my blog of 21 August 2021 below).
I then received four complaints on 3 February 2022, one on 14 February 2022 and one on 7 March.
Three of these complaints were, I assume, heard this morning by a Sub-Committee of the Standards and General Purposes Committee of Bucks Council in Aylesbury.
The members of the Sub-Committee are Cllrs Thomas Broom, Bill Chapple and David Thompson. They are elected councillors on Bucks Council representing the Conservative Party.
I do not know whether the meeting was heard in public or in private, as the Sub-Committee was to decide that just before the meeting.
I assume the Sub-Committee was assisted by the MO and members of her team, legal counsel, and the Independent Person. I was invited to the hearing and told I could employ my own lawyer, at my own expense, or could take a friend who would not be allowed to speak.
The agenda and papers for the hearing on the three cases are over 250 pages long.
I am assuming the hearing took place because I declined to attend. I have also declined to engage further with the complaints process.
The MO, or her staff, have informed me a number of times that failure to co-operate with the process, such as declining to attend a hearing or responding to each complaint at each step of the process, is a breach of the Code of Conduct. I might therefore receive further complaints.
I am going to explain what the allegations were, as factually as I can, and, as normal, I will leave you to make up your own minds.
All I will say is that these complaints have caused me a vast amount of work and considerable stress, particularly during the summer when I and my husband had health issues.
This stress has been exacerbated by Bucks Councils’ poor handling of the complaints to the point where I have formally complained of institutional harassment and bullying by Bucks Council and an abuse of process.
The complaints have probably cost the taxpayer many thousands of pounds. BC won’t tell me how much until the process is finished – when I have to ask again.
I reminded Bucks Council that some of the complainants had not respected the confidentiality of the complaints process. I therefore felt no obligation to respect the confidentiality of their complaints.
In response, Bucks Council informed me that failure to respect the confidentiality of the process is a breach of the Code. So, I may get even more complaints.
I do not know the outcome of the hearing. I will let you know when I do.
I am going to use the same picture (below) each time I blog about the cases. So, if you are not interested, you can just skip these blogs.
