‘Ignorance is no bliss’ says resident over committee concern

RESIDENTS across the borough have joined the call for an independent investigation into the council standards committee.

On Monday, January 11, a meeting of the Standards Committeewas cut short after Philip Meadowcroft, a Wargrave resident tried to point out that it broke the council’s own rules by including too many members of the executive, as well as the council leader.

Last week, Wokingham Liberal Democrats called for an independent investigation into the issue.

This has been echoed by borough residents, who say they are concerned the committee had not acted in the “spirit of the law”.

Mr Meadowcroft said he noticed the issue after analysing the council constitution, following the council’s public consultation into councillor conduct, back in November last year.

He said: “I think a calm reflection of what has gone on is desperately needed. Cllr Halall said it’s an honest mistake that nobody noticed until I brought it up.

“But ignorance is no bliss here, there has to be a penalty paid — and the penalty should be he stands down. This is not a personal issue, this is about principles.”

Mr Meadowcroft said he didn’t want to see any “political shillyshallying” but for the issue to be properly dealtwith.

This concern was echoed by Charvil resident, Frank Moore, who said hewas “appalled” at theway the standards committeewas handled.

Mr Moore, whose professional career involved chairing multiple standards committees in the textile industry, said it is “extremely important” the right process is followed.

“I would like an independent investigation into how this happened in the first place,” he told Wokingham.Today.

After looking into the legality of the committee, solicitors confirmed the committee composition was lawful.

A report from Legal Solutions, Sean O’Connor, solicitor and head of legal and Jenniffer Lee, solicitor, concluded that: “The committeewas lawfully established and its decisions and any decisions of a subcommittee of the committee are lawful.”

They said this is because the council voted to appoint the committee, despite the restrictions on membership in the constitution.

Mr Moore said although the committee has been found to be legal, “that is not the spirit of the law”.

He added: “We need to investigate howthis happened in the first place.”

Earley resident, Mike Shattock, questioned whether the council was made aware the committee would break the constitution, when it was appointed in may 2019.

“I accept they can change their constitution,” he said.

“But they didn’t comply with what’swritten down.”

Last week, Cllr Andy Croy, leader of Wokingham Labour, suggested that residents unhappy about decisions made in the meetings, should be allowed to have that revisited — as long as there was some agreement within the committee.

Mr Moore said he was concerned the presence of too many executive members may have influenced decisions made.

“I think they should investigate what this means for past decisions,” he said.

This was supported by Mr Meadowcroft, who said that past decisions should be revisited — even if it’s uncomfortable to do so.