Leading opposition member awaits fate in leak case

9:00am Friday 11th January 2013 in News

It's Our County leader Councillor Mark Hubbard It's Our County leader Councillor Mark Hubbard

THE leader of Herefordshire’s second largest opposition party will have to wait to discover his punishment for taking confidential documents.

It’s Our County boss Councillor Mark Hubbard is said to have taken private documents from the room of a council officer and breached the members’ code of conduct by leaking confidential information to the Hereford Times.

Both breaches relate to the multi-million pound Old Livestock Market (OLM) development.

The case was discussed by full council on Friday when Councillor Nick Nenadich told members the IOC man’s actions fell “well below the behaviour we expect”.

Coun Hubbard was not present at the meeting but his IOC colleagues supported him.

“I know he was applauded for what he did by some members of the public,” said Coun Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes.

A standards panel heard he had removed the documents having ”acted on impulse in a heightened emotional state” after being denied access to paperwork. He later returned them. 

For the Hereford Times leak, which made front page news on April 5, Coun Hubbard said he thought he was acting in the public interest in disclosing a report containing commercial OLM information.

Full council was asked to note the breaches by Coun Hubbard but the matter was adjourned until the next meeting in March to allow councillors to read a fresh report.

Coun Hubbard this week said: "This is just petty politics being played by the administration because we are quite good at our jobs.”

Comments(17)

mlevans says...
9:50am Fri 11 Jan 13

Councillor Hubbard is an honest representative of our city who would not have faced any dilemma concerning this issue had he not been battling against a Tory controlled administration that seemingly has no comprehension of the true meaning of “Open Government”. All it seems to know is how to redact Council Minutes and other documents, and deal in spin and obfuscations.
Let only those with blameless lives cast any stone – you know who you are!

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Dodo leDuck says...
11:24am Fri 11 Jan 13

I've led a blameless life.

Can I cast a stone at the "high street shops" vested interest brigade in Ledbury who are preventing the ordinary people of Ledbury from having a real supermarket with easy access, free car parking and a petrol station?

They know who they are as well.

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Werintrouble says...
4:47pm Fri 11 Jan 13

This Councillor has done what we have all wanted and for my part he has my thanks and gratitude.

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probono says...
5:05pm Fri 11 Jan 13

He is a fool. When he signed up the Code of Conduct he knew that he could be challenged if his behaviour did not conform. And he was.
He needs to borrow a flak jacket from Teflon Tell or Bob the Builder if he wants to flout the rules and get away with it.

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Themightyboosh says...
9:29pm Fri 11 Jan 13

my god we need more like hubbard
those papers should have been public.
and rightly so he had the balls and conscience to do this
and here come the rest of the cowardly bunch who dont want it seen how much of a **** up they have made
this isnt justice this is revenge.

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Themightyboosh says...
9:33pm Fri 11 Jan 13

this man did good meanwhile.
hereford council has just "Re assesed" all the people who come to our centre and approx 1/3 of our clients have been basicly been forced to leave.
one lady had her costs increased from £4 to £46 to attend per day
i think thats a 1000% increase "please comfirm my math is rusty"
plus her transport which has gone up but we dont know how much by.
this is discusting and vile on the worst level
all of these people are by definition vunareble adults
basicly they cant shut centres for vunrable adults because of the backlash so there doing it by the backdoor and just pricing them out
our council is comprised of foul moneygrabbing leech like bastards who have £38000 pound expence claims and prey on the moast defenceless and vunurable ......**** to a person...i am so angry i just dont know....and the worst thing is they will keep on **** it up/do a **** job/waste money/and still be rewarded for it

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Themightyboosh says...
9:35pm Fri 11 Jan 13

sorry all im just so angry :(

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Themightyboosh says...
9:55pm Fri 11 Jan 13

i doubt very much jarvis"spits" will hear of this
but these savings will amount to a few thousands of pounds
but will deprive some very vunarable people of there only interaction with others.

its unlikley but i hope when he is old and imfirm his shares collapse and he and the other exec are reduced to being trapped in one room with no stimulas no friends to help and advise him. no one to check he is allright
i hope he thinks back to the people he has consigned to this and crys his black heart out

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Roger J says...
10:11am Sat 12 Jan 13

I admire what he did in exposing what a secretive bunch of money wasters this council really is & now they're having a tantrum & throwing their toys out of the pram.

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dippyhippy says...
4:09pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Well done Mark!! It's re-assuring to know that at least one of you has a sense of decency.You should hold your head high,you truly have the moral high ground and the support of many.Please remember these words, when they send you on the inevitable re-training course.You are the better man!

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bobby47 says...
4:33pm Mon 14 Jan 13

And if similar circumstances arrive again Mr Hubbard, breach those codes of practice again until this Council Leadership stop delivering us all their secret form of democracy.
My very warmest regards to you.

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littlewhitebull says...
3:38pm Tue 15 Jan 13

I hope Mark is sent into a room with Mr Jarvis - the punishment being Jarvis telling him all the good work the council and Jarvis have done. After saying hello, it will all be over.

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bobby47 says...
4:12pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Littlewhitebull, You jest but you ain't far wrong my good friend.

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WYSIATI says...
10:07pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Do I not read between the lines that Mr Hubbard realised that taking confidential documents secretly off the desk of a council officer was a mistake?

If he can admit it was a mistake perhaps the rest of us ought to as well.

Unlike us, Mr Hubbard has agreed to be bound by certain codes of conduct and minimum standards which he failed to keep up.

I have no reason to think that he is not a fine upstanding member of the council and genuinely does not think that the chaos that would flow from everyone taking the law into their own hands would actually benefit anyone in the long run.

By all means oppose, object, challenge but play by the rules - if you don't like the rules there's a system to change them - that's democracy

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brianjmee says...
7:28am Wed 16 Jan 13

I would recommend that we bus all the school kids of Hereford into our City Coucil meetings to educate them as to how democracy and our City Council opperates. I'm certain seeing Coucillors like Mark Hubbard working for the common good will inspire them to try and make a difference and improve society in their adult lives. The fact that the current adminsitration is seeking to 'hang Mr Hubbard out to dry' speaks more for their gilt than their sense of justice

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Herefordian07 says...
8:54am Wed 16 Jan 13

If all the councillors were as genuine and honest as Councillor Hubbard and cared as much for Herefordians with the County at heart, we wouldn't have the awful secrecy that we now endure from this autocratic council which is full of self agrandisement. Well done Mark and thank you for what you do for everyone not just political parties

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probono says...
4:06pm Wed 16 Jan 13

The elected memebrs run a Council and instruct the officers what to do. Why is this no longer happening here ?
Perhaps it is time the elected members started to change some of the rules about secrecy - they have the powers to do exactly this.
Why not put a Resolution to full Council where we and the press can attend and all hear the debate to make everything open and transparent.
This may of course discomfort some of the senior officers who may have things they would rather not be made public, but the elected members who we voted for and mandated to serve this County surely have nothing to hide.
If elected members do not want this transparency and take steps to bring it into force and have it in the HC Constitution, you would have to ask why why why ?

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