Shropshire Council has been compared to secretive states like China and Russia in a row over the leaking of confidential information.
Shropshire Council has been compared to secretive states like China and Russia in a row over the leaking of confidential information.
Councillor Andy Boddington, who represents Ludlow North, is currently facing disciplinary action over a blog post in which he revealed the content of restricted council documents.
He has now formally responded to the council’s investigation, saying: “I acted in the public interest. We are not China or Russia.”
The papers, presented behind closed doors at a meeting of the full council in December, involved the refurbishment of Ludlow Assembly Rooms.
Members agreed to give £1.3 million to the project, but when the council later announced this Councillor Boddington said it was not made clear that the money was a loan and not a grant.
An agreed community asset transfer – which would have seen the building signed over in a 125-year lease – was also revoked in favour of a three-year lease.
The blog post sparked complaints by Council leader Peter Nutting and cabinet members Lezley Picton and Steve Charmley, but Councillor Boddington has stood by his decision.
In his response to the investigation, Councillor Boddington said: “I saw my role as publishing the information on Ludlow Assembly Rooms as a part of my duties as a councillor.
“The public were not being told the entire truth. They weren’t being made aware of the sting in the tail of £1.3m funding or reducing the community asset transfer from 125 years to just three.
“I was fully aware that a code of conduct complaint could be submitted by the dominant political powers in Shirehall. That to my mind was a risk worth taking.
“I acted in the public interest. Both Shropshire Council’s code of conduct and legislation allow a public interest defence on release of information marked confidential.”
Councillor Boddington said he would accept any punishment and was “proud” to have acted in the best interests of the people of Ludlow.
He added: “We spend public money. We should be 100 per cent publicly accountable.
“I will defend that until the electorate of Ludlow North no longer wish me to defend them and our town.”
Shropshire Council does not comment on whether it is conducting investigations into the conduct of individual councillors.
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