Calls for council leader to step down over legal warning

Alec Doyle – Local democracy reporter

A council leader has been asked to resign after his warning that “nonsense” in meetings could lead to legal action.

Non-aligned councillor and Conservative Party member Robert Ian Williams, who represents Bangor-is-y-Coed, wrote to Mark Pritchard following last week’s unprecedented scenes at Wrexham County Borough Council’s Governance and Audit Committee.

There, Cllr Pritchard made a statement warning members against using the legal privilege of the committee to make statements against councillors in relation to the ongoing uncertainty around Wrexham’s Local Development Plan (LDP).

Point

“As the  group leader of the Independents and one of the three individuals who took the LDP forward I want to make it very clear here today that if there’s any accusations from any elected member within this committee or any other committee, or reference to the Independent Group we will take legal representation,” he said.

“I believe that some elected members are using committees to put their point across and I can assure you I will not accept that as a leader of a group.

“It’s unacceptable and I’m going to leave it at that but I just want everybody here to know where we stand as an Independent Group and the other two elected members who are involved with this can defend themselves.

“But I want to make it clear to everybody that I will not put up or tolerate this nonsense. We will not accept it.”

Attack

Afterwards Cllr Williams said he felt it was an attack on free speech and wrote to Cllr Pritchard asking him to step down as leader.

“I can hardly believe your comments to the Audit Committee,” he wrote. “Wrexham Council is founded on democratic rules and  principles, as enshrined in our Constitution. Authentic democracy never fears free speech.

“I respectfully suggest you should step aside. As a Conservative party member I cannot support, what I see as a direct attack on freedom of speech, conscience, democracy and the well being of our borough.”

In the immediate aftermath of Cllr Pritchard’s comments, Labour Group leader Cllr Dana Davies assured him that members would stick to the remit of the Governance and Audit Committee.

“I just think we need to be aware that we’re a statutory committee here,” she said. “It is the Governance and Audit Committee and we oversee responsibilities and risks to the council.

“As members of the Governance and Audit Committee we have to explore those risks and be assured that any mitigation around those risks are fully mitigated.

“I don’t think we need to involve ourselves in personal statements to be honest, we just need to do the work of the committee and focus on that.”

Asked about Cllr Williams’ letter and his request that the leader step down, Cllr Pritchard declined to comment.