'Sorry? What for? say Teignbridge Two

Pair claim they've been smeared

Two councillors ordered to apologise after being found to have breached the code of conduct have said that they have nothing to apologise for.

Cllrs Liam Mullone and Richard Daws were found guilty of code of conduct breaches by Teignbridge District Council’s standards committee at hearings in July.

The two 'Newton Says No' councillors were requested to write an unequivocal letter of apology for their conduct, and committee said that had they had the power to, they would have recommended suspending Cllr Mullone for six months.

But Cllr Mullone and Cllr Daws have said that they have nothing to apologise for, that the council should be apologising to them and their residents for their actions, and that the standards cases against them were "a total farce and a smear campaign."

The committee found that Cllr Daws breached the code of conduct by an accusation of public misfeasance towards the council’s managing director Phil Shears in an email, that he had been "rude and aggressive" towards him, and that in a Facebook post it had been inappropriate for Cllr Daws to state that the council management was out of control.

They found that Cllr Mullone had breached the code of conduct by making "unpleasant, discourteous and undermining, and in some instances, spiteful," comments regarding officers on the 'Newton Says No' website and in Facebook posts, in further posts he had had acted in an intimidating manner towards an officer.

The committee said: “The committee has found instances of disrespect and/or intimidation by Cllr Mullone particularly towards council employees. He also brought his office as councillor into disrepute.” 

But Cllr Mullone said: “Hilariously Cllr Richard Keeling wrote to tell me that if he ‘could’ suspend me he’d suspend me for six months.

“Since he’s just imagining what he could do, why not be more extravagant? Why not bear me through the streets on an elephant-drawn litter, pelt me with porcupines and garrotte me with the Master Bailiff’s chain? It’s the lack of imagination from this council that’s so depressing.”

Speaking on the findings of the committee, he added: “I would advise anyone who’s in two minds about this affair to watch the absolute circus that was our ‘hearings’ on YouTube and make up your own mind. Unlike this council, Richard and I trust the public to know what’s right.

“Teignbridge District Council would like to make us look like thugs and hooligans because smearing and belittling people has always worked for them in the past. Sadly this time there are councillors who will not be bullied, will not shut up; who have overwhelming public support and – vitally – have the law on their side.

“Teignbridge have no sanction they can bring – we were lawfully elected, we have rights of free expression and we will continue to tell the truth on behalf of our constituents.

“If the council leader, monitoring officer or managing director think we’re feeling in the least humbled, chastened or hushed by their kangaroo court hearings then they’re in for a shock. We’ve only just started. We promised people that if they voted for us we would never be silenced and always tell them the truth – so anyone at Teignbridge – officer or elected member – who doesn’t like that has a difficult three years ahead.

“We have here a council that puts out sham consultations, ignores 4,000 objectors and intends to build on a protected wildlife habitat. That has suppressed hundreds of documents and is about to be forced to release them by the ICO; where the head of legal services is in multiple breach of the laws on Freedom of Information, and which is right now under investigation by the police for conspiracy to defraud.

“And they have decided that I have ‘brought the council into disrepute’ for pointing these things out. I have absolute faith in local people to make up their own minds on all of this.”

An allegation of conspiracy to defraud has been made against Teignbridge District Council dating back to 2006, and a Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said: “We will continue to review materials supplied by the reporting person in relation to this allegation. No persons have been arrested nor formally interviewed in relation to the allegation at this time.”

A spokesman for Teignbridge said that the council had yet to be hear from the police in relation to the fraud allegation.

The crime reference number for the case is CR/05209/20.

Cllr Daws added: “The standards cases against Liam Mullone and I are a total farce. The public will recognise these as a smear campaign against democratically elected members. They were instigated without any complaints being made, on a whim by senior officers at Teignbridge using large amounts of public funds. That itself is a scandal that needs external investigation.

“We are representing our electorate with the questions no local Politician has had the backbone to ask. That makes life very uncomfortable for those in charge. Teignbridge still has some very serious questions to answer. The council is in total disarray, it is now without a leader and the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan it tried to sell to neighbouring districts had been recognised for what it is, a developer plan with no place in the post-covid climate emergency world.”

Tim Darsley, who had been appointed as the investigator, in his report to the committee also took into account the Newton Says No website, which was created to publicise and promote their activities. Its content included a ‘Rogues Gallery’ which featured Mr Shears, the council’s business manager, a number of council members, and others connected to the controversial Wolborough NA3 application.

Once Cllrs Mullone and Daws were elected to the council in May 2019, the website was amended and the functionality suspended. It had been set up prior to the pair being elected to the council and therefore not subject to the Code of Conduct.

The reports though make lengthy references to the website, and Cllr Daws added: “They have lumped us together and with the website, it was like they trying to make us liable for something that happened before we were councillors. It is like an old score being settled and was mentioned to create the emotional response of the members that it did.

“We have nothing to apologise for. We were elected to represent the interest of our residents. I would like the council to apologise to the residents for the £5,000 waste of money and the time wasted on this investigation.

“We will represent the interests of the residents, however painful that is for the council. They have supressed our human rights and damaged our reputation – these are not reasonable actions of a council.”

When asked to comment on the responses to the outcome made by the Newton Says No members, a council spokesman said: “There is nothing to add to the published decisions of the Standards Committee at https://democracy.teignbridge.gov.uk/documents/s9639/Decision%20Notice%20Standards%20Committee%2015%20July%202020.pdf and https://democracy.teignbridge.gov.uk/documents/s9667/22%20July%202020%20DECISION%20LETTER%20-%20Cllr%20Mullone.pdf”

Cllr Mullone was found to have breached the code of conduct in regards to a post on the Newton Say No website which said: “Our objective remains the same: the Local Plan must be revised. And by revised we mean hung, drawn, quartered, torn apart by horses; its head put on a spike outside Asda and the remains thrown into a plague pit with the careers of the people who devised it.”

The investigator’s report said: “The use of the word careers indicates that he is referring to the officers who were involved in preparing the Plan, including the Managing Director, the Director of Strategic Place, the Principal Planning Officer and her team. He is effectively calling for their careers to be ended. Cllr Mullone told me he had been talking about the outgoing Conservative Executive.

“Even if this had been the case, the nature of his comment to those concerned is the same. The call concerning the careers of those involved in preparing the Local Plan was unpleasant, discourteous and undermining.”

A Facebook post whereby Cllr Mullone alleged housing numbers had been ‘cooked-up’, suggested Mr Sheard had an improper relationship with a landowner of NA3, and described the Managing Director and the heads of the Planning Department as ‘vandals who are unfit for office’ and called for their dismissal, was considered as ‘grossly disrespectful’ by the investigator and subsequently by the committee.

Another post where Cllr Mullone likened the process of the Wolborough Option Report as akin ‘to beating up your gran’ and named Principal Planning Officer Michelle Luscombe as leading it, used ‘violent and aggressive language’, according to the investigator, although Cllr Mullone said he had been using absurdity to satirise the process.

The investigator also said that my liking a Facebook Post and allowing it to remain on his page which said: “Hope the cake chokes them. Whoever came up with this local effing plan should be shot,” Cllr Mullone by endorsing an offensive comment and by allowing offensive and hateful comments to remain on his Facebook page, he brought his office into disrepute.

Cllr Mullone did not dispute the publication or existence of the various comments he had made, but said that his comments were satirical humour, that he considered the concerns raised were simply about the language he had used, and that language couldn’t offend as it was neutral and to suggest otherwise was silly.

He also informed the committee that his use of language was attributable to him having Asperger syndrome, and that he considered that the Council had not shown him the level of understanding and empathy that had been extended to another councillor who had made similar comments about officers, and that he could not substantiate some of the allegations he or his group were making against the Council regarding the Local Plan, because he considered he had been unlawfully refused information to which he was entitled.

Cllr Daws was found to have breached the code of conduct in an email to Mr Shears that claimed defending the housing numbers and implementing them without addressing reasoned concerns was ‘tantamount to misfeasance in public office’.

The investigator said: “To suggest publicly that a holder of public office is responsible for misfeasance is a serious accusation. It not only implies that the office holder acted illegally but that they did so knowingly and wilfully. I consider that Councillor Daws’ accusation of misfeasance against Phil Shears was misplaced and unjustified. It criticised his integrity and was damaging to his standing.”

On the morning of a climate change briefing, Cllr Daws arrived at the Managing Director’s Office without notice, effectively demanding to be seen, and ‘warned the Managing Director that he was on thin ice trying to run the Council and limit democratic processes’, the report said, with the investigator saying: “I found that by using these words, he was suggesting to the Managing Director that his job was under threat. His manner in the exchange was rude and aggressive.”

A Facebook post in which Cllr Daws said: “We have always felt the Management of TDC was out of control,” was also considered to be a breach of the code of conduct by the investigator, as the claims were ‘disrespectful and damaging to the Managing Director and his management team’.

Cllr Daws said that he still did not agree with the information provided by the managing director about the status of the climate change briefing, and that his comments in the emails were within the context of a series of emails on the topic of housing numbers about which he disagreed with the Council’s position.

It is understood that the two councillors are to bring a case to take legal action against Teignbridge District Council.