Man with council ban turns up at Town Hall

A NOTORIOUS complainer breached his ban from entering any Kirklees Council building to plead for the embargo to be lifted.

Huddersfield pensioner Steve Bradbury is said to have lodged about 10,000 complaints with officials and councillors over the past 30 years.

His obessesion with taking council staff to task is said to have been sparked when his bins weren’t collected for three weeks in 1988.

At one point he allegedly refused to pay his council tax and he has frequently got into disputes with Kirklees staff over issues he has felt have not been dealt with properly.

His never-ending complaints led Kirklees to brand him as “intimidating” and in 2011 he was banned from all council premises – including leisure centres, libraries and town halls – to prevent him from bothering any more staff.

His exploits saw him featured on Channel 4’s The Complainers while he was dubbed ‘Britain’s most prolific complainer’ by a national newspaper.

Six years on from his ban, Mr Bradbury strolled in to Huddersfield Town Hall unchallenged to urge senior councillors to reverse it.

But he could not help himself from getting into a row with councillors who asked him to leave.

During public questions at Kirklees Council’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Mr Bradbury asked leader Clr David Sheard to investigate his ban, claiming his attempts to speak to council officers had been ignored.

He said to the meeting of top councillors: “I’d like to know why this council thinks it can discriminate against me.

“I’ve been technically banned from entering any council building by (former chief executive) Adrian Lythgo quite a number of years ago.

“In the past when I’ve tried to attend these meetings, the police have been called to have me removed.

“Even when I came to this town hall with some children from New College I was threatened with police and being removed from the building.

“Adrian Lythgo imposed this ban for no good reason.

“It’s unlawful, it’s unethical, it’s discriminatory and I think it’s time somebody dealt with it in a fair, decent, honest and ethical way.

“Now we’ve got a new chief executive I’ve tried to go about it in a professional manner and make an appointment to try and resolve this matter once and for all, but nobody seems to want to talk to me about it.

“All I seem to get is a letter every six months saying if you’re willing to drop all your historic complaints you’ll be let back into the

fold. “Well I’m not prepared to do so; these need to be addressed correctly and professionally. “Technically I can’t go into the sports centre, I can’t go to the library, a friend of mine got married here – I had to sit outside. “What wrong?” Clr Sheard suggested Mr Bradbury had cost taxpayers £38,000 dealing with his matters. Mr Bradbury said that figure had been “pulled out of the air” and was a “red herring’.’ Clr Sheard said he would raise the issue with chief executive Jacqui Gedman and asked him to leave. With both men becoming agitated, Mr Bradbury’s microphone was switched off and he was again told to go. He refused and continued to talk unamplified to the small audience of councillors and officials. After a brief disruption where he left the area for members of the public and approached Clr Sheard’s chairman’s bench, he left the room. The Examiner contacted Mr Bradbury to comment further on the matter but he said he did not want to do so at the moment. A spokesperson for Kirklees Council, said:

Mr Bradbury has an ongoing dispute against the council which now extends back almost 30 years.

Steve Bradbury (standing) who is banned from all Kirklees Council buildings, walked into the council chamber at Huddersfield Town Hall to plead for his ban to be lifted “Mr Bradbury has an ongoing dispute against the council which now extends back almost 30 years, having started with a missed bin collection.

“The dispute has been discussed by Cabinet and Corporate Governance and Audit Committee over the years, but Mr Bradbury could not agree with the findings or accept the apology that was offered to him.

“The council has explored all reasonable avenues to resolve the dispute, and Mr Bradbury has previously been advised that he can either progress the complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman for them to independently consider, or agree to put the matter behind him.

“Unfortunately responding to Mr Bradbury’s regular contact to pursue historic concerns has taken up a considerable amount of taxpayer’s money, created stress and tension for both Mr Bradbury and our staff.

“As a result a decision was taken to restrict his access on a temporary basis.

“Previous chief executives have met with Mr Bradbury to explain that we would like to have normal contact with him, but he appears unwilling to use the communication channels available to every other resident or to drop his long outstanding concerns which now appear unresolvable.

“The restriction is reviewed every six months and Mr Bradbury is regularly invited to standardise his contact with the council so that relations can be normalised.

“Mr Bradbury still has access to council services in writing, on issues not relating to his historic complaints.

“He may attend council meetings if he provides notice of his attendance and commits not to raise historic concerns or matters that are not on the agenda.

“Mr Bradbury did not give notice of his attendance at the recent Cabinet meeting, however the leader allowed him to stay and speak, but as it was felt he was becoming disruptive to the meeting he was then asked to leave.

“The new chief executive, Jacqui Gedman, has agreed to review the current arrangement, taking into account Mr Bradbury’s behaviour at the meeting, and we will contact him in due course to advise of her decision.”