THREATENING SOUND AND FURY, BUT ACHIEVING NOTHING !

There’s a meeting of FDC Standards Committee on Monday 18th February.

Anyone is welcome to attend, but if you do go expecting to see justice in action - don’t be disappointed if you are asked to leave before the juicy bits start. According to the published agenda, Item No. 6 requires the exclusion of the Public and Press. Why ?

It could well be that this deals with a case against a local councillor which first hit the headlines in December 2006, and continued to create column inches in the local press through the beginning of 2007. Surely if whatever lead to the complaint was in the papers, any investigation, even if only quasi judicial, about that complaint should similarly be public ?

The Standards Board of England insist that their role is to promote “Confidence in Local Democracy”. I can’t see that any of this promotes confidence in anything. There’s one case patiently still waiting for investigation by FDC which allegedly was first reported in September 06, sent to FDC early in ‘07, an officer started to investigate it, but then suddenly left the authority in March 07. It would appear to have languished, forgotten ever since then.

Mind you, even if a case gets to a hearing, it’s not justice in the manner we expect. Last time FDC held a standards hearing, new and uncorroborated ‘evidence’ was unexpectedly produced on the day, the case was immediately dropped, but under scrutiny the ‘evidence’ didn’t hold up.

The problem may be that the Standards Committee doesn’t follow the principals of common law as we understand them. Cllr Howes has been attacked before in the papers by senior councillors (and their associates) as a serial complainer. His complaint is that when something wrong happens - like for example a private company claiming public land in March - the Standards Committee appears to serve to protect the perpetrator, not establish the truth.

Walt