‘Rude’ councillors to take urgent lessons

10:40am Friday 15th March 2013 in News

RUDE councillors have been urged to brush up their act after a series of complaints.

Ledbury town councillors have been advised to take urgent lessons on how to conduct themselves in public office.

Some town councillors have been accused of rudeness and there has been a series of complaints to Herefordshire Council.

Now the authority’s standards panel has recommended the entire town council should attend refresher training on the code of conduct.

The call was discussed at a meeting of the full Ledbury Town Council last week, when Coun Keith Francis asked: “Why have we been singled out for special training?”

Coun Allen Conway said: “I would like to say, no thank you!”

Town clerk Karen Mitchell said the extra training would not be compulsory but that the standard’s panel’s recommendation was “not open for discussion – with no redress, no appeal”.

Coun Annette Crowe, who reported fellow councillor Tony Bradford to the standards board for an alleged rude outburst towards a member the public, for which he was found guilty said: “It does seem as if there have been a number of complaints aboutthis council.

“If there is a problem with the conduct of this council, this is a chance for people to refresh their knowledge.”

Deputy mayor Coun Terry Widdows proposed the council should accept the proposal of the offer of extra training, but it should be up to individual councillors whether they attend.

However, this was defeated on the vote and there were no further motions.

Coun Bradford didn’t attend the meeting; but speaking afterwards said of the proposal: “It discredits the whole council, a council that balances its precept every year. We are probably the best council in the county for this. We need to know how the standards board came up with this proposal.

Give us the facts.

“What I care about is freedom of expression: to give a view on an item, on an agenda, in a public meeting.”

John Jones, Herefordshire Council’s monitoring officer, said: “There have been a number of standards complaints aboutthe behaviour of councillors at Ledbury Town Council over the last few years, which has indicated there is a lack of understanding of the requirement of the council’s code of conduct.

“The suggested training is not about singling out any individual, but rather ensuring standards are maintained to a high level and hence reduce the number of standards complaints made.

“If all councillors understand the standards and code of conduct, there’ll be fewer complaints.”

Comments(8)

BadgerMash says...
12:02pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Very refreshing and healthy to have elected public servants saying exactly what they think to the public - rather than the usual precisely measured tones of well rehearsed, legally approved, well spun corporate-speak that we usually get. Sounds as if this "standards board" is upset that public figures are speaking the truth and wants to train them to do otherwise.

And if local people really don't like what their representatives say - or more importantly do - they could always do something radical - like turning up to local elections and voting them out.

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courtesycall says...
12:05pm Fri 15 Mar 13

it's not just some councillors whose people skills may be lacking, that might explain why council initiatives attract little or no public support, there are some on local organisations and societies who can be downright rude and offensive. many activities in ledbury depend heavily on volunteers. anyone in a position of authority must treat all volunteers with the utmost respect, otherwise people aren't going to want to give their time. disrespect is a good place to start for working out why anyone involved in the running of a local organisation ends having to do all the work.

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drewinledbury says...
4:35pm Fri 15 Mar 13

I agree with both posters. A council made up of the same people year in, year out, elected unopposed can lead to complacency and an attitude of "we are the best you can hope for"...more people should stand for election to provide badly needed energy and a respect for the electors of Ledbury (kudos to ALL those who stood at the last bye election).
When the call was made for the council to stand down en masse and offer itself for reelection I recall the the famous Ledbury Town Council attitude...and it was one of indignation and patronising affront.

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Colin J Marschall says...
6:36pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Perhaps some Councillors time would be better spent learning a little more about the English language . .how saying someone is "ignorant of the facts" can be seen as being rude is beyond me.
Perhaps HCC should take a look at what Lord Diplock wrote in the case Horrocks v Lowe about Privileged occasions -
"What is said by members of a local council at meetings of the council or of any of its committees is spoken on a privileged occasion. The Reason for the privilege is that those who represent the local government electors should be able to speak freely and frankly, boldly and bluntly, on any matters which they believe affect the interests or welfare of the inhabitants. They may be swayed by strong political prejudice, they may be obstinate and pigheaded, stupid and obtuse; but they were chosen by the electors to speak their minds on matters of local concern, and so long as they do so honestly they run no risk of liability for defamation of those who are subjects of their criticism"

When our Councillors cannot even speak their minds in a meeting for fear of reprisal then we say goodbye to democracy and freedom of speech .. some it would seem are rabidly seeking that goal.

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glamarat says...
1:27pm Sat 16 Mar 13

Well said Mr Marschall!

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courtesycall says...
7:46am Sun 17 Mar 13

Colin Marshall's comment appears to relate to conduct at council meetings. But the article is about councillors being rude to the public, which an entirely different matter.

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ledbury and proud says...
3:34pm Tue 19 Mar 13

So someone has finally rumbled the fact some of our elected concillors have a problem with manners and are rude to members of the public, they obviously forget very quickly who has voted them into office originally and treat us mere mortals with comtempt, and to be so conceited when told they are rude by Herefordshire Council and to take a refresher course in the code of conduct they vote against this and say they are all ok
Get your head out of the sands and listern to what people are saying about you, if I was told I was rude to people i would be mortified and would try to sort my self out not ignore it

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Colin J Marschall says...
1:39am Mon 1 Apr 13

courtesycall wrote:
Colin Marshall's comment appears to relate to conduct at council meetings. But the article is about councillors being rude to the public, which an entirely different matter.
Actually it doesn't, the whole thing is about a Councillor allegedly being rude about a member of the public at a council meeting where another Councillor took exception to the comment, but instead of raising it at the meeting they waited a few days and then filed a complaint with HCC, included in that complaint was the accusation that this Cllr was also a racist, which is so stupid as anyone who know the accused cllr will confirm. One would think that our cllr would have some sort of learning when it comes to the English language, how can saying someone is "ignorant of the facts" be concluded as being rude.

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