Agenda item

Documents attached:

Complaint by Cllr M Welch;

Report by Investigating Officer;

Email from Cllr Welch dated 04/06/20;

Apology from Cllr K Tippins;

Email chain relating to complaints 08/20; 013/20 and 023/20;

Affidavit regarding the actions of Cllr A Hollingshead in baiting and bullying Cllr Mrs K Tippins;

Witness statement from Mr R Thomas.   

Ms J Andrews, Investigating Officer presented a summary of her investigation report into complaint 013/20 and outlined her findings, that both Cllr Tippins and Cllr Yeo breached the Code of Conduct by failing to treat other councillors with respect and behaved in such a way that could be reasonably be regarded as bringing the council into disrepute.  The Investigating Officer acknowledged that Cllr Tippins had provided a written apology to the complainant after the Investigation Report had been issued.

 

The Chairman then invited Cllr K Tippins and Cllr P Yeo to ask questions of the Investigating Officer.

 

Cllr K Tippins asked questions in relation to:

Why the Investigating Report lacked reference to case law?;

Why the conclusion did not take account of Cllr K Tippins’ rights under Article 10; freedom of speech and freedom of expression during political debate;  

The relevance of the reference to a newspaper article which had since been withdrawn;

Dorset Council failed to provide details of the Independent Person which had caused her disadvantage;

The Independent Person had stated on 30^th April 2020 that an informal apology should be made by Cllr K Tippins.  Why did the Investigating Officer not take this into account and why is it not referred to in the Investigation Report and Agenda pack;

Why did the Investigating Officer not state the context for Cllr K Tippins comments to Cllr Welch and conduct of others in the meeting.

 

In response the Investigating Officer confirmed that:

 

She was not a lawyer and that her conclusions had been based on discussions with the complainant and councillors and her views were based on the Code of Conduct.

 

Reference was made to a national newspaper to demonstrate the far reaching impacts, in the context of the requirement of the Code of Conduct provisions about not bringing the council into disrepute;

 

The Investigating Officer did not make the decision whether to investigate a complaint, which was a decision taken by the Assessment Sub-Committee with the benefit of the Independent Persons views;

 

In this hearing and the Investigating Report the Investigating Officer acknowledged the conduct of others in the meeting and Cllr K Tippins apology.

 

The Chairman confirmed that Cllr K Tippins points about case law were noted and would be taken into account during decision making.

 

Cllr P Yeo was also given the opportunity to ask questions of the Investigating Officer:

 

Cllr P Yeo stated that Cllr Welch had lied in his complaint as Cllr P Yeo had not called Cllr Welch thick or an idiot in the meeting;

Why had others not been investigated?

Why had Cllr P Yep been investigated?

Cllr P Yeo considered there were errors in the Investigating Officer’s report and so he added information into his interview statement;

 

In response the Investigating Officer confirmed that:

During the hearing and in the Investigating Report the Investigating Officer had stated that Cllr P Yeo did not call Cllr Welch thick or an idiot but he had said “she’s got a point”.

The Investigating Officer had been instructed to undertake an investigation and if was for this Sub-committee to make a decision.

 

The Chairman confirmed that Sub-committee noted Cllr P Yeo’s comments and these would be taken into account during the decision making.

 

Cllr R Adkins confirmed that he had no questions.

Cllr W Trite asked Cllr P Yeo if he accepted that there were ways of insulting people, even if not directly.

Cllr P Yeo confirmed that he did not call Cllr Welch an idiot.  

The Independent Person, Mike Powell, confirmed he had no questions.

 

The Chairman invited Cllr K Tippins to present her response to the Sub-committee.

 

Cllr K Tippins made the following points:

The Investigating Officer’s report should have taken into account Article 10 of the Human Rights Act

The Investigation Report did not provide context;

The investigation was prejudicial;

Cllr K Tippins had provided an apology to Cllr Welch;

Others at the meeting were not asked to apologise to Cllr K Tippins or to retract their statements about her.

 

The Chairman invited Cllr P Yeo to present his response to the Sub-committee.

 

Cllr P Yeo made the following points:

Cllr Yeo had submitted a complaint to the Chief Executive of Dorset Council;

The complaints against Cllr K Tippins and Cllr P Yeo were part of a plan;

Cllr Welch had lied in his complaint;

Cllr P Yeo did not call him an idiot;

Case law showed that councillors should be able to take part in robust discussion at meetings.

 

The Investigating Officer confirmed that she had no questions.

 

The Chairman invited Mr Thomas to make representations to the Sub-committee as a witness in support of  Cllr K Tippins and Cllr P Yeo, confirming that the Sub-committee had read his statement.

 

Mr Thomas stated that both councillors had been properly elected to the town council and in his view had been improperly barred from the committees of the council, manufactured by a few other members of the town council most of whom were active members of the Conservative Party. There was improper behaviour at the Town Council. Cllrs K Tippins and P Yeo were known to be difficult people and had little understanding of council procedure, like other town councillors, and this was mitigation.  There were things in Shaftesbury Town Council that were close to corruption.

 

Cllr W Trite lost connection to the meeting after Mr Thomas had given evidence.

 

Cllr R Adkins confirmed that he had no questions.  

 

The meeting adjourned at that point to give Cllr W Trite time to reconnect to the meeting. 

 

The meeting reconvened at 13.20pm

 

Cllr W Trite confirmed that he had no questions.  

 

Mike Powell, the independent person, confirmed that he had no questions.

 

At that point members of the Sub-committee, Deputy Monitoring Officer and clerk to the committee moved into exempt business to consider the decision of the committee.

 

At 2.55 pm the members of the Sub-committee returned to the meeting to announce the decision. 

 

Decision

 

The Sub-committee had reviewed all of the documentation in the agenda pack provided, viewed the videos and listened carefully to all of the comments made by all of the parties present, including the comments made by Cllr K Tippins which referred to Article 10 of the Human Rights Act and borne this in mind when reaching their decision.

 

No one disputed that it is the right of a councillor to question others as part of their duties as a councillor, however the Sub-committee felt that the behaviour of Cllr K Tippins and Cllr P Yeo fell below the standards expected in the Shaftesbury Town Council Code of Conduct, specifically relating to Section 2.1b to treat others with respect. 

 

The Sub-committee acknowledged that Cllr P Yeo did not use the word idiot but felt he was complicit by his actions and comments afterwards. 

 

The Sub-committee felt that both councillors failed to understand the procedures and protocols for council meetings. 

The Sub-committee acknowledged that Cllr K Tippins had already given an apology however the Sub-committee requested that both councillors give an unreserved public apology at the next Full Council meeting of Shaftesbury Town Council.  

 

The Sub-committee instructed the Monitoring Officer of Dorset Council to make a request to Shaftesbury Town Council that both councillors attend Code of Conduct training of an approved standard within 4 months.

 

The Chairman pointed out that the decision of the Sub-committee was final and that there was no right of reply and no right of appeal to Dorset Council.