Councillor ‘bullied by other councillors and senior officers’

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

A councillor claims he’s been “bullied and threatened” by “insecure” councillors and senior officers.

Conwy County councillor Paul Luckock made the claim in a finance and resources overview and scrutiny committee.

The Abergele member claimed the council was falling short in its mission to be inclusive.

The committee was debating Conwy ’s Strategic Equality Plan Annual Report 2023-24, a progress update on the work undertaken to achieve council equality objectives, particularly in regard to race, sex, gender, sexuality, disability, and other protected characteristics.

The committee scrutinised the report with the recommendation to cabinet that it supports the plan.

‘Team Conwy’

But during the discussions, Cllr Luckock said Conwy’s “Team Conwy” branding was not welcoming to all and even claimed the phrase could be “intimidating and threatening”.

Cllr Paul Luckock said: “We have lots of good people in Conwy, who do lots of good work. That’s the truth. But I dislike the slogan Team Conwy. I dislike it because it excludes many. Residents, employees, and even councillors with protected characteristics, who experience discrimination and racism, do not feel part of Team Conwy.

“It can often be that term, Team Conwy, (that can be) quite threatening and intimidating to people and particularly to people who challenge Team Conwy, as I do sometimes. I challenge Team Conwy sometimes about these specific issues on behalf of my residents, and particularly I’ve been challenging over the years, first as a lay advocate in Conwy and then as a councillor in respect of the Romani Gypsy and traveller community, and this is not not acknowledging that I’m still learning, as I have been learning all my political and professional career about equalities and human rights because every day we’re moving on.

“But I can say personally that I’ve been bullied and threatened by councillors, by senior officers, when I have been challenging, and of course, the bully always is insecure because that’s why they’re a bully, and I’m insecure within Conwy about our safeguarding of people with protected characteristics.

“Now I have my vulnerabilities, as all councillors do, but if we are truly going down this route, we have to listen to those people who feel discomfort, and yes, whether it’s the professional leadership, whether it’s the political leadership, whether it’s managers, whether it’s individuals at the work place, you will continue to get challenges from me and others until we get this right and do not doubt – and people come up to me and say, ‘It’s alright for you, Paul. You can do that’, but the emotional labour of challenging political and professional leadership is great, and I should not and others should not have to be put under those sorts of pressures.”

Secure

He added: “When we get this right in Conwy, and we’ll never get it fully right, but when we get it right to a point where I feel more secure and others feel more secure, then I’ll say, ‘Team Conwy maybe is a term that we’ll use’ but I doubt it because I think this idea that team Conwy gets it right for everybody is definitely wrong.”

Cllr Nigel Smith showed little sympathy for Cllr Luckock’s claims. He said: “Well I have to say, chair, I’ve never heard such rubbish in my life. I’ve been a councillor for 10 years, and I’ve never been one to sit back and not challenge. I challenge officers, and they challenge me back. That’s not bullying. That’s just a counter challenge and making me question why I’ve challenged those offices, and that’s called debate.

“If Cllr Paul (Luckock) feels he has been bullied, then he should take it further, but I think I’ve never seen it in 10 years. The officers are very respectful of councillors, and I think the councillors are generally or unanimously respectful of officers, but never be frightened to challenge, but if you think that being challenged back is an offence or bullying, I don’t agree.”

Concern

Cllr Harry Saville expressed concern that Cllr Smith was too quick to dismiss Cllr Luckock’s claims. Cllr Smith said: “Personally, in my experiences as a councillor, I’ve never felt bullied by senior officers. I really want to make that very clear; however, if that’s what Paul feels, then I think he has a right to raise it. We may agree or disagree. What I think is really concerning (is that) this is a scrutiny committee.

“We’re considering a report where, I think, it’s Cllr Chris Cater who is the cabinet member, and yet we’ve had someone who is not a member of this committee wade straight in after Cllr Luckock’s comments and dismiss them as rubbish, and to be honest, if the member feels the comments are rubbish, fine. But I don’t see how raising that publicly is actually conducive or helpful to the work that any member or officer of this authority does or to this committee’s business.”