A full investigation into the deputy leader of Sefton Council’s failure to declare company properties has been deemed not to be “an appropriate use of resources”.
A complaint had been lodged earlier this year about Cllr John Fairclough, who is deputy leader of the Labour group and a Linacre ward councillor, over his failure to declare a number of properties owned by a company he runs with his son.
The complaint, submitted by campaigner and independent candidate John Rice, alleged that in failing to declare the properties owned by Fairclough Properties Ltd, the councillor had breached the member code of conduct.
The code of conduct requires councillors to disclose any beneficial interest in land within the area of the council.
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Mr Rice’s complaint alleging this breached the code of conduct for councillors was submitted to the council’s monitoring officer and chief legal and democratic services officer Dave McCullough, who said in May that following an initial investigation no further action should be taken against the deputy council leader.
He said Cllr Fairclough had made assurances that he did not benefit financially from his role with the company and the council’s register had since been updated.
According to Companies House records, Cllr Fairclough has been registered as the person of significant control of the company, Fairclough Properties Ltd, since 2018 and designated as the sole shareholder, holding 75% or over of the company’s shares.
The company was formed in 2017 with Cllr Fairclough and Anthony Fairclough both listed as directors. That has remained the case apart from a period between November 2018 and 2019 when Cllr Fairclough was the sole director of the company.
According to Land Registry data, Fairclough Properties Ltd owns three properties in Bootle and Seaforth – 12 and 14 Rawson Road and 63 Seaforth Road, which is split into three units.
All of the properties were acquired in 2018 or 2019 by the company for a combined price of just over £200,000 according to Land Registry data, and had not been listed on the councillor’s register of interests.
Mr Rice complained to the monitoring officer about the outcome of his initial complaint and in an email sent by Mr McCullough and seen by the ECHO, the monitoring officer said that as Mr Rice was not satisfied with the outcome, the complaint would be escalated to a meeting of the Audit and Governance Initial Assessment Sub-Committee, which would decide what, if any, steps should be taken.
Opposition councillors had also spoken out about the situation, with Liberal Democrat deputy leader Gareth Lloyd-Johnson stating that Cllr Fairclough should make a public statement to “clear the air”, while Sefton Conservative leader Cllr Mike Prendergast called on the councillor to apologise for his failure to declare the properties.
The audit and governance subcommittee met last Thursday, June 26 to discuss the complaint at a meeting held behind closed doors, with the outcome shared earlier this week with Mr Rice.
In an email written by Mr McCullough seen by the LDRS, he said that the sub-committee had not made any findings as to whether the code of conduct had been breached but were “of the view that some elements of the complaint would not amount to a breach.”
It added that the committee felt it would not “be an appropriate use of resources” to refer the complaint back to the monitoring officer for a full investigation but did recommend that Cllr Fairclough be referred to Mr McCullough for training on the code of conduct.
The email stated: “After very careful consideration the sub-committee came to the unanimous decision that the complaint should not be referred to me, as the Council’s Monitoring Officer, for investigation.
“They were mindful that Cllr Fairclough has acknowledged that he should have declared his interest in Fairclough Properties Limited and has now amended his Register of Interests accordingly.
“There is also no evidence that Cllr Fairclough benefited from his failure to keep his register of interests accurate. They were also of the view that some elements of the complaint would not amount to a breach of the code.
“They did not consider in the circumstances that a full investigation would be an appropriate use of resources.
“They did, however, decide to refer the matter to me with a recommendation that I arrange training for Cllr Fairclough on the Council’s Code of Conduct.
“Being an Initial Assessment Sub-Committee, no finding has been made whether Cllr Fairclough has breached the Code of Conduct, but the Sub-Committee felt this was the most appropriate way of dealing with your complaint.”
Following the email Mr Rice said that he has submitted a further complaint about the decision to exclude the press and public from the meeting and regarding the lack of public access to documents being considered by sub-committee members and is now awaiting the outcome of that complaint.
Both Sefton Council and Cllr Fairclough were contacted by the LDRS for comment.
A Sefton Council spokesperson declined to comment and Cllr Fairclough did not respond to requests for comment.
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