Mayor will not resign despite party suspension

CHELTENHAM councillor Sandra Holliday will not be resigning as mayor after being suspended from the Liberal Democrats for “bullying”.

A Lib Dem standards panel upheld a complaint of bullying and intimidation against her at a hearing last month.

The complaint was brought against her by former Lib Dem councillor Wendy Flynn (G, Hesters Way) for COMINTERNATIONAL ments the now mayor made during Cheltenham Borough Council’s annual general meeting in May 2021.

The panel which convened via Zoom on September 20 dismissed a complaint over discrimination.

But the panel upheld the complaint of bullying and intimidation and decided to suspend Councillor Holliday’s membership of the Lib Dems for a total of 12 months.

They said Councillor Holliday made several public comments about Councillor Flynn which were “variously misleading, unsubstantiated, untrue, offensive and undermining”.

According to the panel’s decision which has been seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, two of the comments were “malicious in intent, one of which is hypocritical, insulting and humiliating and the other amounts to defamation of the complainant’s character”.

They said they imposed the suspension because of the seriousness of the complaint, that Councillor Holliday had chosen to “stand by her words of the council meeting on May 17, 2021” and that she said at the hearing she had ‘no regrets.’

The panel said she has not shown any remorse although during questions she said with the benefit of hindsight she would ‘not have uttered a word.’

Councillor Flynn said she was pleased with the standards report and that her name has “been cleared and the public record can be put right”.

“However, it is disappointing that, after two weeks, Sandra Holliday remains on the Cheltenham Liberal Democrat website and the Lib Dems have made no statement.

“It is as if they refuse to accept the national party’s sanction and a clear indication that the issues that led to my resignation from the Lib Dems persist.”

Councillor Holliday said the matters related to events that took place in the May 2021 council meeting.

She said: “While the national Liberal Democrat Party recently reached their decision, the complaint made against me was a matter of public record.

“At the elections in 2022. I was pleased to have been re-elected by my constituents on an increased majority and I was subsequently elected by my peers to the position of Mayor for 2022/23.

“I consider this internal party matter now closed and I look forward to continuing my focus on my constituents and serving Cheltenham as mayor.”

Councillor Holliday is currently listed as a non-aligned councillor on Cheltenham Borough Council.