Standards investigation into conduct of Dudley councillors cost council £137,000
Dudley Council spent a whopping £137,000 on an independent investigation into allegations of bad behaviour by Brockmoor councillors.
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The investigation dealt with a series of 43 complaints from former Labour councillor Judy Foster and Conservative Councillor Bex Collins when both women represented the Brockmoor and Pensnett ward.
The £137,452 cost of the inquiry, by solicitors Wilkin Chapman LLP, was revealed at a meeting of the council’s Audit and Standards Committee on January 27.
Speaking after the meeting, committee chair Councillor Karl Denning said: “Both the council and councillors can never let this happen again.
“As chair of standards, I expect the highest standards and a timely apology if there is any wrongdoing between councillors.
“The Government is doing a consultation at the moment about standards in local government. The council, committee and councillors will be putting forward recommendations.
“We all need to learn from this very expensive exercise and uphold the Nolan principles and be the good example the public expects.”
The 400-page report on the complaints led to a conclusion by a standards sub-committee after hearings in November that Councillor Collins, who now represents Hayley Green and Cradley South, had breached the council’s Members’ Code of Conduct.
Councillor Collins was found to have failed to treat fellow councillors or members or the public with respect, showed acts of bullying and brought her role into disrepute.
She was instructed to write a letter of apology to the committee chairman.
Wilkin Chapman also investigated a complaint from Conservative Councillor Sue Greenaway, who was also a councillor for the Brockmoor and Pensnett ward at the time, against Ms Foster.
The investigation concluded that the then Councillor Foster breached the code of conduct by failing to treat others with respect and brought her role at the authority into disrepute.
The committee ruled, as Ms Foster had resigned from the council before the hearing, they could not make any determination against her; however Ms Foster did apologise to Councillor Greenaway, who now represents Kingswinford South, and expressed her regret for any wrongdoing.
