“Most” council meetings ‘challenging to say the least’ says Labour group leader

Labour’s group leader has said most council meetings were ‘challenging to say the least’, in further documentation of inter-councillor strife.

The Labour v Independent / Plaid Cymru beef is nothing new to Wrexham.com readers, with the ‘Claim ‘vexatious complaint’ prompted 4 month councillor police probe – Labour fire back at ‘shallow versions of Trump & Kim Jong Un’‘ article detailing some of the recent issues.

The Standards Committee report details their work over the last year, as well as containing copies of the reports from Group Leaders on how they take ‘…reasonable steps to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by members of the group’ and maintain high standards.

All group leaders have filled in the form (Conservatives here) however three of the sets give another glimpse into the ongoing fractious nature of some councillor relations.

Council Leader and Independent Group Leader Cllr Mark Pritchard says

It has always been my practice to promote civility and respect within Group communications ,Group meetings and in formal Council meetings and also to promote a culture within the Group which supports high standards of collective and individual conduct and integrity.

I am happy to work with other Group Leaders to support high standards of conduct within the Council. l have recently been working with other Group Leaders to progress a member-led development programme to help embed the new council values and behaviours that advance good governance and encourage a culture that embraces equality, diversity , and inclusion.

Labour Group Leader Cllr Dana Davies writes of a different view of how things work,

During the past financial year, is important to note that the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales received a public complaint regarding an LG member. The Ombudsman determined there was no code of conduct case to answer and did not investigate further. There are no other complaints raised against any members of the LG. The LG have a Group Officer structure which supports group discipline and ensures that high standards of behaviour are developed and maintained.

During this past year, most Council meetings have been challenging to say the least and this is extremely frustrating however, I continue to promote the ten principles in public life whilst fact-checking and calling-out the misinformation. It is no surprise that relationships between some Group Leaders have severely weakened, whilst others have prospered.

I would welcome in-person monitoring of Council meetings by the Standards Committee and would be extremely agreeable to any personal feedback they could provide.

Plaid Cymru Group Leader Marc Jones notes in his comment box,

You will note that there are nine complaints over the past year against our councillors. As I was surprised by that number, I did ask the monitoring officer for a breakdown and it appears that six were against a single councillor. One was challenging her legitimate political views on Palestine and went no further. The other five, including two to the Ombudsman, were regarding her highlighting of an issue regarding a local event that has led to police investigations into potential fraud. The event organiser and family members filed complaints against our councillor in retaliation. Again nothing has come of those complaints because they are groundless.

There is one outstanding complaint against me with the Ombudsman. As it’s live I will not comment further. Some of you will be aware that a parallel complaint against me by the same person was made to North Wales Police last year and that has now been resolved with no case to answer.

As a group we strive to be honest, transparent and accountable. We engage in political criticism and critique where necessary but we do not resort to personal attacks. I wish that were the case with everybody. Where we have had an issue with the conduct of a councillor within our group, we have dealt with it promptly and professionally in tandem with senior officers.

There is ongoing work between group leaders to improve the internal culture of the council and I hope that I am playing my full part in that process.

It is likely the friction will increase in the coming weeks with the Local Development Plan issue set to go before a judge. Both sides appear confident in a win, with the expected fallout either way likely to be long lasting.