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Devon councillor charged with sexual offences

Brian Greenslade was the leader of Devon County Council

Greenslade, 70, of Marwood, Barnstaple has been charged with two counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault and is due to appear before Barnstaple Magistrates’ Court on April 8.

He currently represents the Barnstaple North ward on Devon County Council and the Barnstaple (Pilton) ward on North Devon Council.

But despite being charged with criminal offences, Greenslade will remain as a councillor.

WHAT IS THE LAW?

The Localism Act 2011 changed the standards regime and abolished the Standards Board for England, leaving a void in terms of the sanctions which might be imposed.

Local authorities are no longer able to suspend or disqualify councillors who bully, are rude, disclose confidential information or bring their own authorities and local government generally into disrepute.

Instead, the act means that there is no means for a council to remove a councillor from office.

HOW CAN A COUNCILLOR LEAVE OFFICE?

Other than being voted out during the usual schedule of elections, there are only three ways in which a councillor can leave their post.

One is for the councillor to resign of their own accord, and Councillor Greenslade has not yet resigned from his role and is still listed as a councillor for both councils.

The second is that under the Local Government Act 1972, any councillor who fails to attend a meeting within six consecutive months, unless the absence was pre-approved by the council, ceases to be a member of the council.

Mr Greenslade attended the full Devon County Council meeting on December 6, 2018, and he last attended the North Devon Council full council meeting on November 21, 2018, so he has attended a meeting in the past six months.

The third way for a councillor to be disqualified if when they are convicted of a criminal offence and has passed on them a sentence of over three months in prison. Mr Greenslade has only been charged and not yet appeared in court, or been convicted or any offence.

WHAT HAS HE BEEN CHARGED WITH?

Mr Greenslade is charged with an indecent assault on a woman in Exeter between January 1994 and December 1995.

He is also charged an indecent assault on a woman in Barnstaple during the same period.

He is further charged with sexual assault on a woman in Exeter between June 2005 and January 2006.

He is due to appear before Barnstaple Magistrates’ Court on April 8.

WHAT DO THE COUNCILS SAY?

A Devon County Council spokesman said: “This relates to a pending court case and we have no comment to make.”

A North Devon Council spokesman said that it did not wish to comment on the charges and referred us to the police.

WHAT ABOUT ELECTIONS?

Elections will take place on May 2 to elect the whole of North Devon Council. The notice of election has been published and nominations must be received by Wednesday, April 3, at 4pm, and on Thursday, April 4, at 4pm, the list of candidates will be published.

Mr Greenslade is eligible to stand as a candidate in the elections for North Devon Council.

The next Devon County Council elections are not set to take place until May 2021.

Mr Greenslade, a former leader of Devon County Council, has been a councillor since 1985 and was the leader of the council between 1993 and 2009.

He has also been a district councillor on North Devon Council since 1991, and led the district council between 2011 and 2015.

 He currently sits as a North Devon Liberal after he was suspended from the Liberal Democrats when allegations against him first surfaced last year.

 

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