COUNCILLOR ACCUSED OF ‘BULLYING’ PARISH CLERK

Standards hearing meets over complaints

A PARISH councillor has been accused of ‘bullying’ a clerk by bombarding him with emails and repeatedly arguing over the accuracy of minutes.

Angela Drakakis-smith allegedly disrupted meetings at Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill Parish Council by continually complaining about the minutes recorded by nowretired clerk Gwyn Griffiths.

She is also accused of sending him 192 emails in her first 200 days as a parish councillor and making ‘significant’ requests for information.

Cllr Drakakis-smith has now faced a standards hearing at Newcastle Borough Council after complaints from Mr Griffiths, three councillors and a member of the public.

The complainants say that she breached the councillors’ code of conduct by failing to show respect to others, bullying and harassing Mr Griffiths, and bringing the parish council into disrepute. But coucillor Drakakis-smith has strongly rejected these allegations, claiming that she was ‘speaking truth to power’.

She also claims that she herself has been subjected to a ‘hostile environment’ since joining the parish council in 2022.

Emma Patterson, a solicitor who was asked to carry out an investigation, has found ‘overwhelming evidence’ that councillor Drakakis-smith breached the code of conduct.

The standards hearing panel at the borough council will now decide whether they agree with these findings, and if so, what sanctions to recommend to the parish council.

Ms Patterson’s 82-page report sets out the multiple complaints.

Mr Griffiths claimed that councillor Drakakis-smith showed disrespect by repeatedly alleging bias.

He also alleged that she had intimidated him by using her position as a councillor ‘to undermine the standing of a long-serving and respected clerk’. And he said that her requests for information, which sometimes involved ‘convoluted discussions of matters raised’, were unreasonable.

The councillors – Amanda Berrisford, Neil Bullock and Sebastian Daly – made similar allegations.

Steven Ball, a member of the public who attended a meeting in November 2022, claimed that the chairman and clerk spent all their times correcting councillor Drakakis-smith’s statements. She was interviewed by Ms Patterson twice during the investigation and offered rebuttals.

Cllr Drakakis-smith said: “I am not a bully, I am not a liar, I do not intimidate or anything else I’m being accused of. I am direct and I try to be clear in what I am saying, especially to authority. Speaking truth to power is never easy. But this should not be confused with bullying, harassment and intimidation.”

The standards hearing panel will deliver its verdict soon.