Teignbridge District Council told to apologise to councillor

A council has been ordered to apologise for a flawed investigation that caused "injustice" to a councillor accused of breaking its code of conduct.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman "found fault with a number of aspects" of Teignbridge District Council's investigation into actions by councillor Richard Daws.

The investigation looked into behaviour and comments made on social media.

The council was told to rescind its decision to uphold the complaint.

The report said councillor Daws was elected to the council in 2019.

He stood for a group known as 'Newton Says No' (NSN).

It said: "This political grouping had its origins in campaigning against proposed housing development in part of the council's area and councillor Daws was one of three councillors elected as part of the NSN group. Another was 'councillor X'."

On 1 November 2019 councillor Daws and councillor X received an email from the council's monitoring officer.

It said: "significant concerns have been raised with me by officers and / or members about your conduct towards them particularly in recent weeks.

"The conduct appears on the face of it to establish a case for investigation into whether the standards of conduct required of councillors, as set out in the Members' Code of Conduct, have been breached."

The ombudsman found fault "causing injustice" in its report after Mr Daws, who represents the ward of Ambrook, asked it to look into the investigation.

A spokesperson for the ombudsman said it "found fault with a number of aspects of the council's investigation".

It found the investigation was not prompted by a formal written complaint, contrary to the law, and the council did not give the councillor enough information about his alleged breaches of the code.

The ombudsman made seven different recommendations to "improve the council's processes", but said the council "had not yet agreed to accept these".

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: "Local councillors have a key role in scrutinising their authorities' actions, and have an enhanced right of free speech to ask what might at times appear to be uncomfortable questions.

"Councils need to bear this in mind when deciding what constitutes a breach of their code of conduct."

A statement from Teignbridge District Council said it was "disappointed" in the findings.

It added: "We are already in the process of reviewing the constitution, including members' conduct, our processes and record keeping and in the coming weeks we will review our current approach in the light of the ombudsman's findings and recommendations.

"We apologise to councillor Daws for the failure in our procedures and the impact that had on him."

Mr Daws told the BBC he found the council's actions "deeply troubling".

He said: "In finding seven clear faults, the ombudsman has emphatically outlined the council's wider systemic failings."

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