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SANDWELL TORIES FACE 6 MONTH BAN – BUT DON’T KNOW WHY

21-08-2008

Puzzled Tory councillors in Sandwell have been reported to the Local Government Standards Board which has the power to ban them for 6 months – although they haven’t been told why. They think it might have something to do with raising concerns about the troubled Public arts centre in West Bromwich.

The Stirrer understands that all 14 Conservatives have had a letter from the borough’s Chief Legal Officer warning them that a preliminary meeting will be held on Friday into a complaint that they have brought the local authority into disrepute.

Unfortunately, they haven’t been given any details of why they’re being charged, nor have they been told who’ll be investigating them. They haven't been given a right of reply, either.

Our understanding is that a group of Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors will decide whether to escalate the complaint – surely a conflict of interest - and if they decide to call for a full Standards Board meeting, it would cost taxpayers in the region of £36,000.

The Board has the powers to suspend errant councillors for up to six months.

Although no one has bothered to tell the Tories what they are being accused of, the most likely source of the complaint is the recent full Council meeting, in which they pressed for a named vote on whether to keep funding The Public.

This brought forward allegations by Labour councillor John Edwards that the Conservatives were going beyond the boundary of acceptable behaviour – a claim that left Wednesbury North councillor Elaine Costigan gobsmacked.

She said: “This is supposed to be a democratic society. The people who voted for us tell us they don’t want to spend any more money on The Public, and that’s why we raised it in the Chamber.

"Is that the idea that we should be elected then say nothing?  We could be suspended - and all because we asked for a vote."

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