Agenda item

Members Questions

To receive questions, if any, from Members.

 

Minutes:

The following question was received from Councillor H. Trollope and was responded to by the Leader of the Council:

 

Question:

 

Councillor Trollope commenced by stating that this was not a ‘political’ question. He was posing this question because of the position he had recently found himself in losing a very good friend and also because the pandemic had affected every person in Blaenau Gwent.

 

“Given that Blaenau Gwent had, sadly, had such a high incidence of Covid-19, there was some public concern about the views of Councillor Mark Holland expressed on social media. The question was posed why, after Cllr Holland had left the Independent Group of his own accord, you asked Councillor Holland to reconsider and return to the Independent Group? This was reported in the local press.

 

Please explain whether, in hindsight, you now think your leadership should have been more proactive in expelling him yourself; and whether you consider that Councillor Holland was in breach of the code of conduct?

 

Response:

 

The Leader commenced by stating that he was mindful of Councillor Trollope’s unfortunate personal circumstances and did not consider this as a political question. He continued by stating that he had considered this matter very carefully and seriously and when it had first been brought to his attention his immediate course of action was to have a conversation with both the Monitoring Officer and the Managing Director regarding Councillor Holland’s comments particularly, in relation to any potential conflict in terms of the code of conduct and said that if those conversations had left any major doubt in his mind, his approach and decisions would have been much different as he had clearly demonstrated in the past and particularly in 2017.

 

It was in the light of those conversations he had written to Councillor Holland and asked him to reflect and would have possibly have hoped to have had a conversation with him on a one to one basis.  To contextualise the word ‘reflect’ - asking an individual to reflect was a form of consistency he had tended to adopt in matters such as this as indeed other colleagues who had indicated to leave the Independent Group could testify.  He would always respect an individual’s choice because for independent councillors there was no written contract or obligation but whatever the circumstances he would always value a conversation with any individual because this was the style he adopted.

 

However, in this instance and Councillor Holland’s subsequent comments and the very clear reasons he had provided in writing to the Leader for leaving, created a position whereby he could not and probably would not want to be readmitted to the Independent Group.

 

With regard to the comments with regard to hindsight and being proactive in relation to his actions, mindful of the content of his response so far together with leadership style that he had chosen to adopt, the Leader said that he had dealt with the situation as he considered then and still considered this appropriate.  With regard to any breach of the conduct of conduct, it was a matter for the Standards Committee and more significantly the Ombudsman who ultimately determined any breaches.  To conclude, the Leader said that at this point in time he was content with the course of action he had taken.

 

Supplementary Question:

 

“Reference was made to Leader’s portfolio as part of the Cardiff Region City Deal and was asked what colleagues in Cardiff thought of Blaenau Gwent and was the Council’s reputation being put in jeopardy as the Leader led on this particular portfolio?”

 

Response:

 

The Leader commenced by clarifying that his portfolio as part of the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal did not relate to 5G, he shared another portfolio responsibility with the Leader of Merthyr C.B.C.  He advised that this issue had not surfaced in the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal or the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) (whilst mindful of not being disrespectful towards the anguish to the Councillor and family for what they had recently gone through) advised colleagues were more concerned about concentrating and focussing resources to manage the current crisis.

 

He continued by stating that no member of the public had approached him with any criticism or condemnation of Councillor Holland or had asked any questions about why he had written to the Councillor and asked him come back to Group – no-one had made an issue of it.  Presently, everyone was trying to concentrate on what had to be done and working towards a vaccine.