A councillor who responded to emails in Welsh with replies written in German acted "inappropriately" and has been suspended. Councillor Louise Hughes, who sits as an independent on Gwynedd Council, was referred to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales who put the matter to Cyngor Gwynedd/Gwynedd Council's standards committee.
Cllr Hughes has since been suspended for a month after it was found she had failed to comply with the council's code of conduct. The offending emails had been sent to Howard Huws, a member of a Welsh language campaign group.
A spokesman for the council confirmed: "Following a complaint that Councillor Louise Hughes had breached the code of conduct for Gwynedd Council members the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales conducted an investigation and concluded that the matter should be referred to the Cyngor Gwynedd monitoring officer for consideration by the Standards Committee.
"It was alleged that the member had behaved inappropriately by responding in German to two emails written in Welsh... The committee decided as a result that Councillor Louise Hughes should be suspended from being a member of Cyngor Gwynedd for a period of one month. The member will have the right to apply to the Adjudication Panel for Wales for permission to appeal against the decision."
In a hearing held on April 18 the council's Standards Committee decided Councillor Hughes had failed to comply with the following provisions of the Code of Conduct for Members:
4(a) – Members must carry out their duties and responsibilities with due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people, regardless of their gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, age, or religion.
4(b) – Members must show respect and consideration for others.
6(1)(a) – Members must not conduct themselves in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing their office or authority into disrepute.
Cllr Hughes, who represents the Arthog a Llangelynnin ward, has been in office since May 2012 and sits on the Barmouth Harbour Consultative Committee, Meirionnydd Area Forum, and the Planning Committee. The BBC reported Cllr Hughes described her actions as "light-hearted" and an attempt to "illustrate the difficulty caused when I received an email which I could not fully understand".
She told the broadcaster: "In no way did I mean to be offensive. I often use humour to defuse potentially awkward situations." Shesaid she regretted "sending what was a puerile and unnecessary response to Mr Huws".
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