Lack of ‘real’ sanctions for misbehaving councillors

Residents say the county council’s code of conduct lacks any real methods of enforcement for misbehaving councillors who flout sanctions.

Several elected members who have in the past breached the code have flouted Herefordshire Council’s sanctions.

Former councillor Jim Knipe was ordered to make a public written apology by the standards panel in 2013 because he had failed to treat an officer with respect.

And residents are also yet to receive apologies from former Ledbury town councillors for misconduct.

Mr Knipe said: “Nobody ever chased me for the apology.

“A few weeks later I put a letter in the Hereford Times explaining why I refused to apologise.”

Mr Knipe continued to serve as councillor until the 2015 local elections.

Richard Stow, one of the independent persons who advises the council on standards issues, has concerns over the lack of enforcement.

“This critical issue is still not resolved, the standards procedure is still silent on the issue of enforcement,” he said.

“As independent person in 2018, I repeatedly proposed a solution to the enforcement problem to audit and governance committee under the previous administration but they took no action, and my proposal has received no support from officers.

“It is wrong that councillors can block improvements to the procedures for regulating their own conduct, especially as failure to enforce sanctions for misconduct undermines the entire standards system.”

The new finance and corporate services cabinet member Liz Harvey has asked for the issue of sanctions to be revisited.

She said since changes last year the council monitoring officer will now seek confirmation that sanctions have been complied with.

“What remains outstanding is any form of censure or sanction in the event that a councillor refuses to abide by the resolution determined by the monitoring officer,” she said.

“This is an issue which was raised by the council’s only independent person in the last published monitoring officer report on standards for 2017-18, but no action was recommended by the audit and governance committee at the time.

“Since returning to office in May, I have written to the monitoring officer and requested that this matter be reconsidered.

“I am hopeful that the new audit and governance committee will look to provide the monitoring officer with the ability to take matters further if a councillor refuses to take the required action following a complaint against them being upheld.”