Council standards committee ‘brings itself into disrepute’ after reinstating six months ban on councillor following ‘petty’ royal row

Martin Shipton

A council’s standards committee has been accused of undermining its own integrity after rejecting a recommendation by the Adjudication Panel for Wales that it should reduce the penalty it imposed on a councillor following a petty row involving a potential royal visit.

Back in 2022, during a meeting of Bridgend Town Council’s regeneration committee, chaired by Independent Cllr Steven Bletsoe, a discussion took place about the possibility of inviting the then Prince Charles to unveil a plaque to honour Bridgend-born John Thomas, who was Royal Harpist to Queen Victoria.

Cllr Bletsoe’s wife Freya Bletsoe, also a councillor, suggested after consulting the Lord Lieutenant of Mid Glamorgan Peter Vaughan that the discussion should take place in private: if the invitation to the Prince was declined, it would embarrass him if the request was in the public domain, and if he accepted, there would be security considerations.

Exchange of views

The clerk to the committee disagreed and there was a robust exchange of views. Cllr Freya Bletsoe, who was attending remotely from Yorkshire, left the meeting. Subsequently she complained about the clerk, who in turn complained she had been bullied by the councillor.

At the next meeting of the committee, Cllr Steven Bletsoe objected to the minutes of the meeting, claiming they did not accurately reflect what happened and that they broke normal procedure by going into too much detail about the exchange of words between his wife and the committee clerk. In terms of accuracy, he said the minutes failed to say that his wife had said sorry when leaving. Committee members agreed to change the minutes accordingly.

The clerk to the town council then made a complaint about Cllr Steven Bletsoe to the Ombudsman, claiming that he should have declared an interest and not complained about the minutes because he was the husband of Cllr Freya Bletsoe.

A 406-page report on the complaint against Cllr Steven Bletsoe, including findings from Ombudsman Michelle Morris, was sent to members of Bridgend County Borough Council’s standards committee, which has oversight over the town council.

Suspended

The committee decided that Cllr Bletsoe should be suspended from the town council for six months.

He said at the time: “The decision is absolutely appalling. I have been suspended for the longest period possible and if the decision is upheld I will lose my seat on the council because you are automatically disqualified if you don’t attend a meeting for six months.”

Subsequently the Appeal Tribunal of the Adjudication Panel for Wales recommended that Cllr Bletsoe’s period of suspension should be reduced from six months to 10 weeks, stating that it did not consider that the breaches comprised the most serious type of breach typically referred to standards committees in Wales.

Now the standards committee has reinstated the six months ban.

Cllr Bletsoe has previously raised concerns about the impartiality of the sub-committee that imposed his six month suspension. It comprised a Labour councillor and three “independent” lay members of the standards committee. One of the independent sub-committee members, Roy Lynch, was a Labour council candidate in Blaenau Gwent in 2017, while another – Sue Maughan, the overall chair of the standards committee – has “liked” or reposted many anti-Tory posts on social media, indicating, according to Cllr Bletsoe, a pattern of political bias. This includes reposting “The Big Fat Tory Tw@t Quiz”, as well as reposting numerous posts that are critical of the last three Tory Prime Ministers – Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

APW decision

Committee chair Sue Maughan stated: “The committee has deliberated and had discussions based on the Adjudication Panel for Wales (APW) decision. The standards committee acknowledge the APW discussion and their decision based on what they heard on that day.

“Seven months have passed since the initial casein the standards committee did not hear of any new significant information that came to light that we would reconsider having impact on our discussions.

“The standards committee felt that the APW saw and heard a very different set of statements with some elements of remorse which were not evident at all in the initial case. Therefore we are upholding our original decision of six months suspension.

“Separately the standards committee were very concerned with the articles with individuals named in the press and on social media last May following the case and we would strongly caution against a repeat of such comments.”

Cllr Bletsoe has previously raised concerns about the impartiality of the sub-committee that imposed his six month suspension. It comprised a Labour councillor and three “independent” lay members of the standards committee. One of the independent sub-committee members, Roy Lynch, was a Labour council candidate in Blaenau Gwent in 2017, while Ms Maughan, the overall chair of the standards committee – had “liked” or reposted many anti-Tory posts on social media, indicating, according to Cllr Bletsoe, a pattern of political bias. This included reposting “The Big Fat Tory Tw@t Quiz”, as well as reposting numerous posts that were critical of the last three Tory Prime Ministers – Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Asked to comment on the reimposition of the six months ban, Cllr Bletsoe said: “Given the comments made by the chair of the standards committee in her closing remarks, I feel completely unable to make any comment on the situation and will leave it to others to make their own minds up and make their own comments.”

Cllr Bletsoe is also a member of Bridgend County Borough Council, where he sits as a member of the Bridgend County Independents Group. Leader of the group Cllr Amanda Williams said: “I am appalled at the way Steve Bletsoe has been treated. The standards committee has completely undermined the standards process in local government and in my view brought itself and the council into disrepute.

“I have no confidence in the standards committee’s integrity and ability to behave fairly. I believe this decision should be challenged.”