A new complaint has been submitted about the deputy leader of Sefton Council amid allegations he failed to declare a property that he owns.
The house in question, at 12 Cookson Road in Bootle, was bought by Cllr John Fairclough in 2017 and is jointly owned with a relative.
The deputy leader and Linacre ward councillor had not declared his ownership of the property in the council register of interests – although after a complaint was submitted last week the register was then updated to include the property.
The complaint was submitted by independent candidate and campaigner John Rice, who alleged that in failing to declare the property Cllr Fairclough had breached the member code of conduct.
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The code of conduct requires councillors to declare all land owned in the local authority area.
The complaint came just days after the outcome of another complaint made by Mr Rice into Cllr Fairclough’s conduct was revealed.
Mr Rice had complained to Sefton Council in May that Cllr Fairclough had failed to declare a number of other properties owned by a company he runs with his son, Fairclough Properties Ltd.
The complaint submitted to monitoring officer and chief legal and democratic services officer David McCullough alleged that in failing to declare the properties on his register of interests that Cllr Fairclough had breached the members’ code of conduct.
Initially, Mr MCullough told Mr Rice, who stood unsuccessfully against Cllr Fairclough in the council elections 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 LDRS, 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.
The audit and governance subcommittee met on Thursday, June 26, to discuss the complaint at a meeting held behind closed doors, with the outcome shared earlier last with Mr Rice.
In an email from Mr McCullough seen by the ECHO, 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.
Shortly after Mr Rice was advised about the outcome of that meeting, an email sent by Mr McCullough revealed there were other properties linked to the deputy leader.
One, 12 Cookson Road, had been the subject of a previous landlord licensing application connected to Cllr Fairclough. Land Registry records indicate the councillor is joint owner of that property alongside another family member.
The revelation led Mr Rice to submit a further complaint to the monitoring officer, a complaint for which he told the ECHO he has not yet received a response.
After the ECHO was made aware of the new complaint regarding the deputy leader’s conduct, both Sefton Council and Cllr Fairclough were contacted for comment about the complaint and about the property not being listed in the councillor’s register of interests.
Shortly after, Cllr Fairclough’s register was updated and now includes 12 Cookson Street amongst his portfolio of land interests.
Sefton Council declined to comment and Cllr Fairclough has not responded to any requests for comment on this or any other property declarations after numerous requests.
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