Two Northumberland county councillors look set to be cleared of misconduct at a meeting later this week after external investigators found in their favour.
Code of conduct complaints were submitted with regards to Cllr John Riddle, who represents Bellingham, and Cllr Richard Wearmouth who represents Morpeth Kirkhill in October 2020.
Both complaints were received from Northumberland County Council's CEO, Daljit Lally, and HR director Kelly Angus.
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It was part of a controversial period for the county council that saw disagreements between top officers and leading elected officials, with the CEO placed on leave for two months and former council leader Peter Jackson toppled in a vote of no confidence.
Reports from an external investigator will go before the council's standards committee on Thursday. The documents, which have been published by the council online, show that no breaches of the code of conduct occurred in the case of either councillor.
The reports state that Cllr Riddle was alleged to have:
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behaved in a way which was disrespectful and / or sexist towards officers of the fire service
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Interfered within the recruitment process for a senior fire officer
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Been involved with a land transaction related to the council in which he had a personal interest
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That he brought his office into disrepute by interfering into matters related to planning applications
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That he sought to use his position to prevent or interfere with an investigation into members of his family by the Children’s Services Department of the council / Northumbria Police.
Councillor John Riddle (Handout)
However, the investigating officer came to the following findings in his report.
- That, having interviewed senior fire service staff, found that the issues concerning the Fire Service are not regarded as something of complaint by those who were involved.
- That Councillor Riddle’s personal interest concerning a land transaction can beregarded as “de minimis” (he had a share in a farmer’s co-operative owning a site).
- There is no evidence that he interfered in matters related to planning applications having interviewed the officers involved.
- With regard to the investigation, it is correct that he spoke to the Chief Executive concerning the family investigation. However, he disputes that this was “interference” and his involvement had no effect on the proper investigation of the matter concerned, in respect of which, no action was ultimately taken
De minimis" is a legal term meaning too small to be meaningful or taken into consideration.
In terms of Cllr Wearmouth, he was alleged to have:
- Treated officers in a disrespectful manner and, as a result failed to ensure that the affairs of Advance Northumberland were properly managed resulting in financial exposure and negative publicity for Advance and the council
- Breached obligations with regards to confidentiality, in particular with regards to disclosure of information related to the “British Volt” development
- Interfered with a development project at Ashington commissioned by the previous administration
Councillor Richard Wearmouth, Northumberland County Council (Copyright Unknown)
Advance Northumberland is the council's development company that replaced Arch under the Conservative administration.
Mrs Lally has previously raised concerns about Advance to Northumbria Police, although it is understood no investigation into the company was conducted.
Police recently reiterated this stance after a council officer mistakenly claimed a forensic audit into Advance could not be released to the council's audit committee as it was evidence in an ongoing police investigation.
The investigating officer notes that while there was "substantial differences of opinion" between Cllr Wearmouth and Mrs Lally - the shareholder representative with Advance - in relation to "a number of issues related to the management and operation of Advance."
However, the investigator found "attention was given by him to points raised by her" and it had "not been demonstrated that Cllr Wearmouth treated issues that were raised in such a manner as to amount to treating the officers involved with disrespect."
Furthermore, in regards to the breach of confidentiality, it is understood that the information given by Cllr Wearmouth was already in the public domain, meaning the protection afforded by a non-disclosure agreement was "no longer relevant."
The investigator found there was "no evidence that the actions of Cllr Wearmouth brought the council into disrepute."
In both cases, the investigator considered that neither councillor was in breach of the code. Both reports have been reviewed by Northumberland County Council's monitoring officer Suki Binjal and "deemed sufficient."
Councillors on the standards committee will be recommended to note the contents of the investigator's reports during Thursday's meeting, with no further action to be taken.
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