This is all quite astonishing!!
Though sadly not unsurprising, having had my experience. A former Cllr I
know (Cllr for decades) uses the saying, “They all pee into the same
bucket”, when talking about different sections of Local Government –
certainly my experience when dealing with the TCo and their respective CC
e.g., when attending the Standards Committee hearing after the TCo
complaint following the ‘unlawful Grievance investigation’, they weren’t
interested at all in the massive theft I had exposed or the former TCl’s
‘unlawful grievance’.

The CC Solicitor was purely focussed on ‘winning’ for the TCo, using a
Solicitor from a neighbouring CC to facilitate (a regular reciprocal
arrangement).

Fortunately for subsequent Cllrs, this person has since left our CC.

This action will be costly – one in this country alone cost the Cllr over
£100k. You definitely have my support.

Sadly it happens in many councils throughout the country as this site has seen and the amount of emails received saying much the same.

I doubt it will change when you have the same self-absorbed insincere and deceitful people sitting in the background whispering in others ears – who then follow like sheep ignoring the rules they signed up to.

As happened in the past there is always one who will be working to their own agenda doing what they want ignoring the rules and in some cases breaking the law and then blaming others for their mess.

Still being deceitful and lying to the public is now an accepted way of life in politics thanks to the government!

Further to my previous comment…

In May 2021 the Council proceeded to vest ownership of our family home to themselves. This was after us telling them that we had complied with the conditions imposed by the [wrongfully obtained] CPO… (Another loooooong story.)

We sent evidence to the Deputy Director. She said “You’ve had your chance…”, we’re carrying on.

We approached the Council Leader and Chairman to ask what to do. The Chairman never replied, but the Leader suggested we speak with the ‘independent’ Monitoring Officer [More properly called the Firefighting Officer], which we did, sending her a copy of the evidence.

The MO spoke with the Officers concerned and found nothing wrong in proceeding to vest, even though we had complied with the Order!(?)

We complaint to the Scrutiny Committee, which provoked Director Public Services to send a written statement to 20 elected members confirming ‘his’ decision to proceed to vest ownership. Unfortunately, his decision was a ‘Key Decision’, as defined by the Council’s constitution and as such, only within the prerogative of Cabinet to make. A breach of the Council’s constitution?

Officers investigating their own decisions, also in breach of the Constitution, with the risk of bias…

His written statement can also be shown to be false representation, by both what he said and, more significantly, what he didn’t say; s2, 3, 4 Fraud?, Misconduct in Public Office?

Having brought these matters to the council’s attention, at first they asked if we would consider mediation. Mediation of what, exactly? They never said. Now, having suggested we will seek Judicial Review, we have received a letter stating that they will defend the action robustly and send us the bill… Doesn’t seem particularly fair, or ‘Nolan’ really.

Anyone interested in supporting a Crowd Funding appeal – assuming we can find a solicitor to take it on…? Strasbourg here we come!

The most informed and accurate commentary on the disgraceful behaviour of the acting clerk I have seen to date. I find it sad how we make hero’s of narcissist. The acting clerk was totally out of order.

Given the ranting of the Handforth Chair that the Clerk to the Council is not the Proper Officer of the Council shows he knows little of how a council works, it is normal practice for a clerk to become the proper officer. 

Although it would not be unusual for a councillor to take over the roll of Clerk, it would be unpaid – but the fact that the chair had elected himself as Clerk was illegal – the clerk cannot take the chair at a meeting.

It was good to see a Monitoring Officer step in to oversee a contentious bullying chair and councillors, a situation that is seen up and down the country.  

The Monitoring Officer has three main roles: To report on matters he/she believes are, or are likely to be, illegal or amount to maladministration; To be responsible for matters relating to the conduct of Councillors and officers; and to be responsible for the operation of their Constitution.

Hi Peter,
Thank you so much for your kind words. Unfortunately the last thing that council wanted was an experienced public sector senior manager as a Councillor; especially one who knew public sector pay and could spot fraudulent behaviour! If this massive theft hadn’t been committed by the ‘senior team’ (Clerk and Deputy) then something may have been done but add to that the North East Party wanting to ‘political point score’ and there’s a perfect recipe to ‘laugh all the way to the bank’; with the new Clerk being made a fool of by endless ‘covering up’. I thought this person was better than that. How wrong was I!

Pity councillor training didn’t include staff pay/entitlements along with personality disorder traits, ideally done before being allowed to be a candidate at elections, then perhaps the town would be much better served. At least the town wouldn’t be a few hundred thousand pounds poorer.
Author

When the author discussed with me her intention to stand as a local councillor I felt she would be a great asset for her local rate payers to have such a highly qualified person join the local council who is so conscientious and diligent.

The author would have used her management skills to improve practices within the council team and to involve the local rate payer in the change process.


The local councils have huge budgets and part of the job role of the local councillors is to improve standards and raise concerns when the need arises, the author has the skill to do this in a highly professional manner.

I am shocked to hear the Author has not been supported by the senior team at the council when the author carried out her responsibilities as a local councillor to uphold good professional standards adopted by the council. 

Thank you Neil for taking an interest in my ‘write up’ of my experience of being a Councillor at a town council; it is much appreciated and actually refreshing to know there are more who share my views of local government. I am sorry to read the experience you describe; it sounds horrendous but sadly no surprise. You are so right – it is a BIG problem. In terms of the personnel, observational assessment of behaviour and actions identify senior staff with very evident personality disorder traits plus there is no standard for councillor candidates to meet before election. Combined together this is a recipe for disaster with no ‘body’ overseeing practice and use of public money.

Of course you can use any of this information with the press. It is obviously anonymised but as press are often at court hearings, this may change when my case is heard enabling a wider informed audience i.e. the town and personnel are likely to be named.

In terms of the Barrister helping me pro bono, she is ‘public access qualified’ so can take direct referrals although I am unsure if she is able to take any more work at present as she is overloaded. I am happy to ask her for you if helpful.

I am very interested in your idea of further work / Action Group and have links with other persons nationally who may also be interested. Perhaps we can use the Administrator of this site as a conduit to more direct contact. If agreeable please provide any information/contact details accordingly.
Thank you.

To summarise the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

Douglas Adams: Restaurant at the end of the Universe

Thank you for writing this account. While it does not immediately solve our current issue: A District Council taking action to Compulsorily Purchase (dispossess) the family home of 23-years, of a couple that have been providing care and support for an elderly disabled relative for 13-years, it has confirmed our thought that there is something fundamentally wrong with Local Government and the complete lack of accountability. As you say; ‘Council Complaints procedure’, Monitoring Officer, MP, Local Government Ombudsman all either ‘Part of the same trough’, toothless or disinterested. The only recourse is to expensive law…

While some of the ‘excesses’ [hopefully] don’t apply in our case, the basic thesis holds true: incompetence, Personality Defects (See quote above), illegal acts, thuggery, dishonesty and unaccountability…

As I read, I found myself wondering if I had in fact written this blog last night, in my sleep!

If I may, I would like to reference this information, when speaking with our local press.

I think this is a BIG problem, as shown by Sarah Chayes book [HERE]

Other than expensive litigation, how can we – the people – fight this plague? The 2011 Localism Act removed what teeth there were for dealing with ‘bad behaviour’:

PS: If your barrister is available for some paid work, or if you feel like forming an Action Group, please do let me know.

Thank you so much Ian. You are very kind, though I remember acutely how instrumental and supportive you were in getting the drug and alcohol service established district wide with continuing development and additional services over the years. I certainly did not do it alone.

This whole council saga was a nightmare from detecting the fraudulent behaviour of the two senior staff to the term ending. The obstacles that opposition councillors and those staff put in place were ridiculous; presumably expecting me to stop. As Maria said laughingly to me in a phone call, “Had they never met you?” What is totally unbelievable is the new Town Clerk doing nothing, repeating his deputy’s mantra and lying about his contact with the new Internal Auditor as well as the councillors doing nothing about the original auditors report. Our public money is not safe in their hands!

The auditor’s report showed that members of the council took full pay while on the sick for longer than was sanctioned by the rules, so broke the instruction and the policy of the council. This is incomprehensible and suggests corruption, not just incompetence.

To be threatened by councillors, that worried the police to such an extent they warned the author that these people were likely to seek revenge, I would have thought that the threats should have led to a conviction but maybe there is some fine point of the law or in the circumstances that I have missed.

The best explanation for some of the councillor’s activity is that there was coordinated action of a coterie which meant they were covering each other from their wrong doing.

Secondly I would like to say that my dog’s death would have broken my heart just as it did the author’s.

Thirdly I would like to describe how I know the author who I have worked with in a local psychiatric hospital sine 1983.

When I started working there the author was in charge of the ward for medically sick psychiatric patients, which she ran efficiently and with aplomb. The author was highly regarded by the physicians from outside the hospital as well as the consultant psychiatrists. It was sorely missed when it closed for financial reasons.

After that the author started a drug and alcohol service, as a nursing officer a neighbouring city, de novo, that despite being run on a shoe string was better than the regional service. This service included a methadone maintenance and a clean needle service to prevent HIV. The author impressed doctors, social workers and O.T.’s by her hard work, resilience, along with an eye for detail, diplomacy and management skills; all essential for running this kind of service.

Following this the author then developed an innovative family therapy service and trained doctors, O.T.’s and other nurses which has had an enduring legacy at our hospital where I still work as a consultant psychiatrist.

You can see how the author’s ability, personality, determination, honesty, caring, intelligence, lateral thinking, allied with a high level of conscientiousness means the author was unable to turn a blind eye to the corruption, incompetence and dishonesty in the council.

She is a proper Labour person; if only all were like her.

Thank you Ivan for your kind comments.
This organisation prefers to ‘attack’ the whistle-blower then give hundreds of thousands of pounds of the town’s money to the ‘scam recipient’; she didn’t actually falsify the returns to payroll, her deputy obliged there!
At least the town is rid of her. If only the new Clerk would ‘step up’ to his job role and deal with the actual thief instead of just repeating her ‘mantra’ before there’s more theft and pay-off’s.

Exposures in the script such as Data Protection breaches, bullying, dishonest representation of accounts in minutes and more, provide ample evidence of senior officers dishonesty and fraudulent actions. This is made even more reprehensible by the non action of the current Town Clerk to deal with any of the issues when in a position to do so. Such a shame the Police did not see themselves in a position to take action. No individual or town deserves to be treat like this and needs protection. If there is to be any restoration of faith, members need to take responsibility and put the electorate before self interest and ‘blind eye turning’ to corruption by officers and act.

Hi Maria,
I am so touched by your comments, feel really from the heart. Thank you so much!

Yes I would not just ‘sit back & disregard’ the blatant fraudulent behaviour of the senior employed staff, as the others did bar one, although to be fair most councillors there were totally unaware of employment law or public sector sick pay / basic good management which makes an ideal foundation for fraudulent behaviour, especially when combined with different political parties containing some members who were more concerned with political point scoring than protecting the electorates public purse. What I feel is less acceptable, in a way, is the newly appointed Town Clerk who condoned the massive theft. Maybe due to having little management experience and so easily manipulated by the corrupt.

Unfortunately Police were unable to do anything due to the governance being, “Embarrassingly Shoddy” and the “key legal document being missing”. Wonder if it’s now returned? The CPS could not pursue prosecution when there was nothing in place to stop this fraud. Although legal routes could not be pursued at that time, the internal investigation, automatic in well managed honest organisations, is still to be undertaken. Although the former Clerk is thankfully gone, albeit with a huge amount of the town’s public money, the Deputy Town Clerk should be held to account. Public sector staff are dismissed for much smaller thefts, but not here!

Skilled & qualified in clinical specialities & senior management roles the Author is held in high regard by all & was an esteemed role model for many.

The Author is renowned for setting & maintaining high standards of practice & accountability underpinned by integrity, fairness & honesty. 

As a Labour Councillor, it is no surprise the Author would feel duty bound to robustly scrutinise, challenge & expose any concerns regarding dishonest or corrupt practices evident within this public service.

That the Author experienced such appalling & malicious repercussions from so called fellow public servants is indeed an absolute disgrace!

At the very least criminal investigations surely should be instigated, alongside further scrutiny by senior Labour representatives.

Meanwhile dear Author I thank you for your principles & applaud your tenacity & endurance.

Take care, stay safe

Regards
Maria

Thank you Amanda.
I’m sorry that you have also had a bad experience from ‘whistle-blowing’. The council I’m describing didn’t even have a ‘whistle-blowing’ policy! There were very few competently written policies / systems in place hence the Police and CPS were prevented from prosecuting, allowing the DTC to purport, “There was nothing in it”. Shockingly the new (current) TC just adopted that phrase instead of fulfilling his responsibilities; ‘managerial impotence’ I’d call that. Just what the town doesn’t need!

Hi David,
Thank you so much for your kind words. As the saying goes;

‘The truth is still the truth even if only one person speaks it’

I’m sure those from this council will have a different story but can’t refute the evidence / email trails or the fact that a massive theft of public money has occurred and gone unpunished.

I am feeling stronger now, thank you, and will be ensuring this corrupt place is exposed even more. The towns people deserve so much better.

Thank you for your comment. You have obviously read it through.

One councillor has definitely left & only stayed for that term to prove this council wasn’t corrupt as that was the talk in the town. Unfortunately the talk was correct.

I don’t suppose the other will dare do anything on their own.

Hi Georgina,
Thanks for your feedback.
I couldn’t agree more! At the very least there should be some sort of ‘Person Spec’ before anyone is allowed to be a councillor so candidates have something to genuinely offer then we wouldn’t get the thieves, town thugs & drunks which seem to be in abundance now. Maybe no ‘Personal Allowance’ would stop some of them too.

As I said at a County Council meeting last week; the depressing truth is that those who expose wrongdoing in Local Government are much more likely to face reprisals than the wrongdoers.

Given all the problems within the Town / Parish Council sector and the lack of appetite for meaningful reform by Central Government; I would just scrap this tier of government.