Rotten to the core

Question

I despair. My friend has been bullied off the parish council because she stood up to those who had no interest in the community. The pc have also bullied a local resident for 3 years, resulting in an ICO complaint that was upheld. These councillors have been in place for many years and are likely to co-opt one of their friends to join them. Nobody else wants to work with them.  I feel very vulnerable on the pc and I am frightened of what they might do if I stand up to them.  The monitoring office is not interested. How do I stop these people gaining an even greater stranglehold?

Answer 1

That sounds dreadful Louise. Sadly, it's not a unique situation and I think you know what the answer is. In the short term, there is very little you can do. Encourage strong and positive people to put themselves forward for the co-opted vacancy and hope that they get in. Encourage members of the public to attend meetings. Make people aware of the Council's shortcomings (although as a member yourself, you need to be careful how you do this). Finally, persuade people to stand at the next election under a "time for change" banner.

There are many private fiefdoms in the world of parish councils and the system does little to supress them.

Comments

I would simply echo DavetheClerks comments.  The "checks & balances" have either failed or have been removed all together within our tier of local government.  When the public are indifferent and the regulatory regime is powerless it leaves people between rock and hard place.  My own approach has been to break it down into small manageable chunks and take solace in the fact that I am doing my best in very difficult circumstances.

Answer 2

Campaign for Parish Council's to come under the remit of the Local Govt Ombudsman.  If they are a bad as you say, it seems unlikely that are operating without a number of breaches of legislation.. Only the LGO could take any serious actions. Most external auditors won't, and if you reported your concerns to NALC they would run a mile..  You could ask the LGO to investigate  the intransigence of the Principle Authority MO too.

Comments

The role of the Ombudsman is primarily to investigate service provision, not internal issues. Their guidance states:

"I'm not happy with a service provided by my parish council. Can the Ombudsman help me?
In most cases, no. The Local Government Act 1974 (S34(1)) defines the authorities that we may investigate. Parish and town councils are not included in this definition."
and
"Can the Ombudsman look at a complaint about a parish or town councillor?
No. A complaint about the conduct of a parish or town councillor should be made to the council itself. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, a local Standards Committee (usually run by whichever local council collects your council tax) may consider your complaint."

The remit of the Monitoring Officer is very limited and most issues fall outside their powers. Even in the most serious cases, unless Police involvement becomes necessary, they can do little more than write a strongly-worded letter.

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As I said, the councillors adequate likely to be in breach of legislation and that is certainly within the remit of the LGO for principal authorities , if it were the case for Town and Parish Councils too, the errant councillors would be under more pressure to change their ways.

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Like the PSO for Wales oversees complaints relating to individual community council members and also complaints against a community council itself, the LGO should also have the same powers in England.

Answer 3

Could you drum up enough support for a parish poll and ask parishioners if they hold a view of no confidence in the way the PC conducts its affairs?

Although the result would not be binding, it would however send a clear message to them.

Answer 4

Hi Louise

Sorry to hear this. I wish I could say it is a rare occurrence but sadly it is not. Are you a Councillor or a Clerk?

I have been a Parish Councillor for 15 years and during that time I have sat on some outstanding parish councils (Moved a lot due to work) with the community at the very heart of what they do. Sadly I have also been on some appalling councils which probably fit quite closely to what you're saying. My current Parish Council is split into 3 parts. 1 part very proactive and all about the community and bettering the parish / 1 part power crazy people who are there to protect only their own interests / 1 part drifters (Those that follow the popular vote and/or feel intimidated by the power crazy part.

For a long time now I have been of the mindset that Parish Council's are under-supported and under-valued by the central government and local associations are as archaic as some of the parish council's themselves.  The best councils are those that operate as a professional tier of government (which they are) and less like a Vicar of Dibley affair.

Going back to the Councillor/Clerk question.

If you are a Councillor and feel bullied then raise a complaint to the chairman explaining a breach of the code of conduct. If this doesn't work then send a complaint to the MO at the district council or county if you don't have a district. However to meet your expectations the MO is quite limited in their power and may feel they have no authority to act. There really has to be some tangible evidence, which in cases of bullying can often be difficult. Discrimination on the grounds of age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity etc is another matter. If things are so bad there's also the Police in relation to harassment.

If you are a Clerk then you have rights as an employee. I would contact the Citizens Advice Bureau or ACAS for more specific and detailed advice for free.

As others have said I would also strongly urge you to encourage others to join the council either via co-option or election at the earliest opportunity. We have done this on my current Parish Council and the power balance has moved quite considerably. The aggressive and bullish few are becoming quieter.

Comments

My PC has wasted £1000’s and hundreds of hours in staff time attacking me and never once has a single allegation stuck
The Clerk has been allowed to send me to Coventry
They refuse me access to any information so I have to use the FOI
They’ve made false allegations to the ICO and the Police and withheld legal advice from the Councillors
When we set this years precept I pointed out that the Budget didn’t balance and was publicly attacked but after the meeting they had to cut £200,000 worth of expenditure  that’s not a typo £200,000 and yet not one of the other 15 Councillors noticed
An adjacent PC has squandered what’s believed to be £3,000,000 on a white elephant project that is loosing so much money the precept went up by 162%

There are very good PC’s as but in my experience a lot are poorly run and no one can do a thing about it
The gulf between the professionalism at Borough level compared to Parish level is far too large

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You've hit the nail on the head in that last sentence. The gap in professionalism between parish and borough is too wide. There needs to be a proper governing body. The MO's don't really care about 'squabbles' at the parish level.
Interestingly a lot of the things that go on in PC/TC's between people would not be allowed in a professional workplace and the democratic process should not be used a shield to hide behind in removing someone from office. A Councillor may very well be voted in on merit initially but if they don't act accordingly would the same people vote them in again - sadly having to wait 4 years to show their disapproval. Not good.