The Ombudsman received a complaint that a member (“the Member”) of Clyne & Melincourt Community Council (“the Community Council”) had breached the Code of Conduct (“the Code”).
It was alleged that the Member made a derogatory comment about the Complainant to one of his business customers. It was also alleged that the Member was threatening and abusive to the Complainant, when he attended a Community Council meeting.
The investigation concluded that the Member had failed to show respect and consideration, which was suggestive of a breach of paragraph 4(b) of the Code. The evidence did not suggest there was bullying behaviour or harassment, pursuant to paragraph 4(c) of the Code.
Our finding, under section 69 of the Local Government Act 2000, was that the report on our investigation be referred to the Monitoring Officer of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council for consideration by its Standards Committee.
The Standards Committee found that the Member had failed to comply with the Code of Conduct. Its sanction was to suspend the Member for 5 months.
This decision is subject to appeal.