Latest news with #StandardsCommission
The National
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Tory councillor suspended over 'inappropriate' Travellers comment
The Conservative suggested that 'Gypsies are not British people' at a Kincardine and Mearns area committee meeting back in November 2023. Her comments were made during discussions around plans to change the use of the Findon Park football pitch near Portlethen into a camp. The issue flared up due to the retrospective nature of the application being voted on. Mrs Agnew suggested this showed a willingness to ignore rules on behalf of the applicants. READ MORE: Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell granted legal aid in embezzlement case She said: 'If they're ignoring this, they may ignore other things. That's my problem.' When pressed by colleagues to retract her remarks, she added: 'I don't want to refute it. Anything could happen there. That's all. It's slightly worrying to me. 'And I'm not saying it's just because they're Gypsies. It would be the same if they were British people. I'd be worried about this massive site. That's all.' The incident sparked some controversy and resulted in Mrs Agnew stepping down as committee chairwoman in the aftermath. By standing down she lost out on an extra £10,000 each year. Now more than 18 months later, she has faced standard watchdogs. An investigation has now been carried out by the ethical standards commissioner. The Stonehaven member faced the Standards Commission today. Ethical standards commissioner Ian Bruce said: 'The respondent made inappropriate comments about Gypsy Travellers and the appropriateness of granting a retrospective planning application for a site, including insinuating that they are not British. 'This was deemed a failure to treat everyone with courtesy or respect, and also a failure to advance equality of opportunity.' At the meeting, Mrs Agnew stressed she didn't 'feel hatred' towards gypsy travellers and blamed her comments on 'clumsy language'. The councillor also argued she had 'no intent to be disrespectful'. Before the recording of the fateful 2023 meeting was shared on YouTube, it had been edited to remove Mrs Agnew's comments. READ MORE: Ryanair cancels more than 800 flights due to conflict in the Middle East The council's head of legal and people, Karen Wiles, admitted this had been done to prevent the local authority from facing any potential legal challenges. She said: 'It was apparent to me that people of a Gypsy Traveller community may have seen themselves as being differentiated from British people. 'That could be offensive since the two terms are not mutually exclusive.' Standards Commission member and chairwoman of the hearing panel, Helen Donaldson, said members found Mrs Agnew had treated the applicant 'less favourably' because she was a Gypsy Traveller. They based this on Mrs Agnew's suggested knowledge of unauthorised use of a different site and an assumption that Travellers were 'more likely to breach planning conditions'. Ms Donaldson added: 'The provisions that state councillors … must avoid any perception that they are not acting fairly and without bias when making decisions on quasi-judicial matters. READ MORE: LIVE: Latest updates as MPs vote on proscribing Palestine Action 'The panel noted that a failure to comply with the code's provisions in this regard can have a detrimental impact on the right of an applicant to be treated fairly, and can erode public confidence in the role of a councillor. 'Such a failure also had the potential to bring the committee, the council and its decisions into disrepute and open it up to the risk of a successful legal challenge.' Members then decided to hand the Stonehaven councillor a two month suspension. This means she will not be allowed to attend any meetings or represent Aberdeenshire Council during this time.
STV News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- STV News
Councillor suspended after making 'inappropriate' comments about Gypsy Travellers
A Stonehaven councillor has been suspended for two months after she was found to have made 'inappropriate' comments about Gypsy Travellers. Wendy Agnew was thought to have suggested that 'gypsies are not British people' at a Kincardine and Mearns area committee meeting back in November 2023. Her comments were made during discussions around retrospective plans to change the use of the Findon Park football pitch near Portlethen into a Gypsy Travellers site. The incident sparked some controversy and resulted in Agnew stepping down as committee chairwoman. A councillor colleague made a complaint about her comments the following month and an investigation was carried out by the ethical standards commissioner. In April, the Standards Commission was sent a report that suggested that Agnew had breached the Councillor's Code of Conduct. The Stonehaven member faced the Standards Commission on Tuesday to face the consequences of her comments. Ethical standards commissioner Ian Bruce said: 'The respondent made inappropriate comments about Gypsy Travellers and the appropriateness of granting a retrospective planning application for a Gypsy Traveller site, including insinuating that they are not British. 'This was deemed a failure to treat everyone with courtesy or respect, and also a failure to advance equality of opportunity and to seek to foster good relations between different people.' Aberdeenshire Council Wendy Agnew, Aberdeenshire Council At the meeting, Agnew admitted she didn't 'feel hatred' towards Gypsy Travellers and blamed her comments on 'clumsy language'. The councillor also stated that she had 'no intent to be disrespectful'. Before the recording of the meeting was published online to YouTube, it had been edited to remove Agnew's comments. The council's head of legal and people, Karen Wiles, admitted this had been done to prevent the local authority from facing any potential legal challenges. She said: 'It was apparent to me that people of a Gypsy Traveller community may have seen themselves as being differentiated from British people. 'That could be offensive since the two terms are not mutually exclusive.' Standards Commission member and chair of the hearing panel, Helen Donaldson, said members found Agnew had treated the applicant 'less favourably' because she was a Gypsy Traveller. They based this on Agnew's suggested knowledge of unauthorised use of a different site and an assumption that travellers were 'more likely to breach planning conditions'. Ms Donaldson added: 'The provisions that state councillors must be respectful, must foster good relations between different people and must avoid any perception that they are not acting fairly and without bias when making decisions on quasi-judicial matters, such as planning applications, are key requirements of the Councillors' Code. 'The panel noted that a failure to comply with the code's provisions in this regard can have a detrimental impact on the right of an applicant to be treated fairly, and can erode public confidence in the role of a councillor. 'Such a failure also had the potential to bring the committee, the council and its decisions into disrepute and open it up to the risk of a successful legal challenge.' The panel found that Agnew had breached paragraphs 3.1, 3.2, 7.4a, 7.4c and 7.5a of the councillor's code of conduct. Members then decided to hand the Stonehaven councillor a two-month suspension. This means she will not be allowed to attend any meetings or represent Aberdeenshire Council during this time. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
The Herald Scotland
21-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
The verdict on Cammy Day: little in this sordid affair surprised me
But that did not mean Cllr Day had no case to answer, that complaints against him were fabricated, that Cllr Day's alleged behaviour fell below the standard expected of a civic figurehead, or that safeguards for complainants do not need to be improved. Like the charges against the late Alex Salmond, it is entirely possible for allegations to have some substance - why else did Mr Salmond admit to being 'no angel' who indulged in 'sleepy cuddles' in his bedroom with a female colleague who was not Mrs Salmond - and for there to be a political conspiracy at the same time? One does not necessarily exclude or indeed excuse the other, especially when a personal weakness becomes a political opportunity. But the debate on the Dunion Report split very much along those lines, with the SNP and Greens in denial that politics had played any part in how the allegations came to light, when each one of them either knew it did or had been living on Bass Rock for the last six months. Worse, any attempt to shed any political light on what happened was portrayed as victim-shaming and extending ordeals. If politics and allegations of leaks of confidential information about the complaints to the Press had anything to do with the absence of Cllr Day's former coalition partner and ex-council leader, the SNP's Adam Nols-McVey, no-one was saying. This is the same Cllr Nols-McVey who failed to inform the Chief Executive, the monitoring officer, or indeed the Standards Commission, when he received a serious complaint about Cllr Day, then his deputy coalition leader, in 2018. And it's the same Cllr Nols-McVey who never missed an opportunity to attack me in council meetings with quite sickening innuendo when I was under investigation - and subsequently cleared - by the Standards Commission for doing nothing more than asking difficult questions. Read more I'm not sure Edinburgh Council's biggest problem is too many Christmas parties Edinburgh Labour U-turns on Cammy Day's council comeback bid | The Herald Cammy Day probe report debated by Edinburgh Council | The Herald No, it was nothing to do with politics when new complaints made through the council's supposedly confidential whistleblowing system, and a subsequent report, then appeared in newspapers at the end of last year. And no, when the SNP amendment said, 'disclosures were met, in some instances, with dismissiveness or minimisation by some councillors, including being labelled as 'gossip' or 'salacious', contributing to a culture of silence and power imbalance,' it was not referring to Cllr Nols-McVey's obvious failure to escalate the 2018 complaint. And when the SNP agreed with the Greens' amendment that 'Elected Members undertaking public duties should be held to higher standards than simple criminality,' it presumably did not apply to what appears to have been little more than a chat between Cllr Nols-McVey and a police officer about the complaint in 2018. It was no surprise that Cllr Day was not there to hear what little remains of his reputation being ripped to shreds, and it's impossible to see how a plan, wisely withdrawn earlier in the week, for the Labour administration to propose Cllr Day as convener of the planning committee can come off. Why anyone thought it was a good idea to try to vote in someone to a promoted post, which comes with a £14,000 a year pay rise, just as they were about to be eviscerated in the next agenda item is beyond me. At least advice was heeded, but the Labour group should be in no doubt that any attempt at the next full council meeting in August to propose Cllr Day for such a key position could end in ignominious failure and possibly the collapse of the administration. Just because his behaviour has not crossed a criminal threshold, that Cllr Day has been readmitted to the Labour Party, or that there was a political motive behind the attempt to destroy him publicly, does not mean all councillors other than the SNP and Greens are willing to give him a clean bill of reputational health. Edinburgh City Chambers (Image: Newsquest) It certainly does not apply to serial Labour rebel Katria Faccenda who in an emotional speech said the affair had 'broken her heart' and made it clear she would not welcome Cllr Day's return, saying she was unable to attend meetings with Cllr Day present because she feared for her safety. However hyperbolic that claim may be, she was not far off the mark with her assertion that the council is in a 'position of ethical crisis,' but this is not news and there are more than a few of us, and not all from the opposition ranks, who have been saying this for years. For evidence, ask the now retired education officers John and Deirdre Travers why it took them 20 years to be compensated for the appalling campaign of abuse and intimidation they suffered for blowing the whistle on institutional corruption at the highest levels. Or the people whose evidence of disgraceful practices was ignored by the 2021 inquiry into the council's whistleblowing culture. He might not quit, but readmitted to the Labour Party or not, it's hard to see how Cllr Day can carry on after the 2027 election. Little in this whole sordid affair surprised me, and if the council is to move on, then so too should some other significant individuals who have been there too long. Councillors can call for as many reports and new procedures as they want, but when fresh new voices defend, ignore or even lie about the actions of those who have come to regard power as an entitlement, absolutely nothing will change.
Daily Record
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
Falkirk councillor suspended for three months over 'bullying' email
Billy Buchanan broke the councillors' code of conduct when he asked for advice on "the suspension of an officer" A Falkirk councillor has been suspended for three months after sending an angry email that said he wanted to "get advice on the suspension of an officer" and threatened to involve the police and a solicitor. A hearing of the Standards Commission today (Thursday) found that Independent councillor Billy Buchanan, who represents Bonnybridge and Larbert, had sent an email regarding a member of Falkirk Council' s planning staff that "amounted to bullying". Morag Ferguson, Standards Commission member and chair of the hearing panel, said: 'The panel found that, in an email of 9 June 2023, Cllr Buchanan was disrespectful towards a planning officer of the council. The panel further found that Cllr Buchanan's conduct, in respect of the email, amounted to bullying, even if this had not been his intent.' Members heard that the email, sent on June 9, 2023, read: "I am looking for a meeting with officials and Councillor K to make a formal complaint and get advice on the suspension of an officer pending the outcome of an investigation." The email referred to a controversial planning application that had been turned down by council officers, before Falkirk Council's planning review committee granted permission for the development to go ahead, subject to a legal agreement being signed. Baillie Buchanan told the panel that the application had sparked abuse that had affected both him and his family as well as other councillors involved. When the applicant's agent contacted him to say that the legal agreement had still not been signed months later, Baillie Buchanan emailed officers to ask that the matter be investigated. Several months later, he received another email - this time from a fellow councillor, who was not named - to say that the matter was still not resolved. A senior planning officer replied to advise members that the delay was caused by the introduction of new planning policy by the Scottish Government. But the panel found that Cllr Buchanan then sent an email, on 2 June 2023, to the other councillor and managers from the senior planning officer's team stating that he wanted 'an immediate investigation' into the situation and the concerns expressed regarding the senior planning officer's 'part in the handling' of the application. This was followed by the email on June 9, which suggested Cllr Buchanan was looking for advice "on the suspension of an officer" and referred to getting the police and his personal solicitor involved. He signed off the email saying, "It's scandalous!" Baillie Buchanan insisted that the reference to the police and his solicitor was not directed at the officer but had been because he and his family, along with other councillors, had been subjected to horrendous abuse because of the decision to grant planning permission. Baillie Buchanan said he had "never at any stage accused the complainant of anything" but he admitted it had been frustrating to send a complaint about a delay and "months and months later" to hear the matter had still not been resolved. He told the panel: "What I said, quite clearly, was that I wanted a meeting to get advice. "The reason to involve the police because we had had so much abuse. "I sent the email to try and bring this to a conclusion." But the panel was satisfied that Cllr Buchanan assumed the senior planning officer was responsible the length of time the application was taking. It was also satisfied that he was also suggesting the officer be suspended as a result, noting that the senior planning officer had been removed from the list of recipients in the email chain. The members of the panel accepted fully that Cllr Buchanan was entitled to raise questions about the progress of applications determined by the Committee and to raise concerns - with the appropriate line manager or senior officer - about delays potentially caused by a council employee. But they considered that anyone reading the email would conclude "from Cllr Buchanan's mention of a disciplinary measure, the police, his solicitor, and his use of the word 'scandalous', that he was clearly implying the senior planning officer was guilty of misconduct and or had deliberately done something that was improper or illegal. Cllr Buchanan said he was very angry that the email, marked private and confidential, had been shared with the officer. But members of the panel felt that "Cllr Buchanan should have known it was likely the contents of his email would be disclosed ... given the reference to disciplinary proceedings and seriousness of the inferred allegations about the officer's conduct (even if the full email was not shared)". The Panel agreed that it would be reasonable for the senior planning officer to have interpreted Cllr Buchanan's comments as a threat to contact both the police and an external solicitor about his conduct. Ms Ferguson said that unless there was a suggestion of illegality, an officer's conduct would be an internal council matter and Cllr Buchanan had not provided any evidence of illegality or misconduct. The panel found that Cllr Buchanan "had breached the provisions in the Code that require councillors to behave respectfully towards council officers and to refrain from any conduct that could amount to bullying". The panel agreed that Cllr Buchanan "should have known how to undertake his scrutiny role in respect of the application and overall process and could have asked relevant senior officers to establish whether and, if so why, any undue delays had occurred, without breaching the Code". Ms Ferguson added that they were concerned that Cllr Buchanan had not shown any remorse or insight into how his conduct may have affected others. But they noted that the conduct was limited to one email exchange and felt that a three-month suspension was an appropriate sanction.
The Courier
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Courier
Ex-Angus Provost faces watchdog hearing over town hall rant
Former Angus Provost Brian Boyd is to face a Standards Commission hearing over the town hall rant which caused his fall from grace. The public bodies watchdog has summoned Carnoustie independent Mr Boyd to a hearing in Forfar later this year. Notice of the July hearing was posted on the Standards Commission for Scotland website this week. It does not detail any allegations the panel will consider. However, The Courier understands it follows a complaint around Mr Boyd's conduct towards fellow councillor Lois Speed in a meeting last June. His outburst led to Arbroath independent member Ms Speed fleeing the Forfar debating chamber in tears. It came as Mr Boyd shut down her attempts to raise concerns over early years staff being cut in P1 classrooms. He told her: 'When I stand up, everyone here sits down.' Mr Boyd apologised for going 'over the score' when the fraught meeting resumed following a brief adjournment. 'It's a very terse day and this is an opportune time for me to apologise to Lois,' he told the full Angus Council meeting. 'I'm a very dramatic person at the best of times and I did go over the score. I hope she'll accept my apology.' But his conduct was condemned as an 'absolute disgrace' by one shocked colleague. He initially resisted calls to resign, but later stepped down as Provost. 'I recognise that my behaviour fell below my own personal standards,' he said at the time. Mr Boyd said he did not wish to make any comment on the matter ahead of the hearing. In 2019, the frequently outspoken councillor was censured by the Standards Commission It followed a row over an online petition which referred to a local minister as a 'homophobic reverend'. Mr Boyd signed the petition, which then appeared on social media due to the settings on his Facebook page. He described it as a 'regrettable episode'. Mr Boyd is expected to remain a non-aligned councillor following the latest turn of events which saw the SNP lose control of the council. A Conservative-dominated rainbow coalition is now in charge of Angus. It comes after opposition members won a vote of no confidence in the nationalist group this week.
