Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich IP1 2BX
Telephone: (0300) 1234 000
www.babergh.gov.uk www.midsuffolk.gov.uk

Code of Conduct Complaint Decision Notice

Complaint Reference: 2022-OCT-0001

Complainant: Mr Tony Brigden

Councillor: Councillor Rob Wombwell of East Bergholt Parish Council

Decision: No breach

Date of Decision Notice: 06 April 2023

Details of the Complaint (as received):

I regret having to complain about matters described below, relating to the July 14th 2022 East
Bergholt Parish Council Meeting, but members of the public should not be exposed to public
besmirchment, and as you know there are regulations and guidance concerning such
behaviour. I will await the Council’s response and proposals for remedial action, but if
necessary will have no hesitation referring the matter to the Babergh Monitoring Officer.

I value my hard earned reputation as a businessman, consultant and member of the village
community and take great exception to being vilified by a councillor in the public forum of a
Parish Council meeting, where I have neither the right or means to reply. The derogatory
remarks made by Councillor Wombwell in the Parish Council meeting of July 14th were wholly
unjustified, representing an inaccurate characterisation and defamatory as they were clearly
aimed at “character assassination”. For the record an extract of the draft minute recording the
Councillor’s words are shown at the foot of this communication for reference purposes.

The simple fact is that a request from a member of the public “for clarification” does not
represent an attempted “disruptive interruption”, nor is there evidence of “an attempt to
intimidate the Council”. You will also be aware such behaviour by the Councillor is in conflict
with the Suffolk Code of Conduct and standing Monitoring Officer guidance, whilst his
unfounded accusations are also defamatory as defined by Monitoring Officer guidance.

These remarks are in addition to defamatory emails from Councillor xxxx and inappropriate
email remarks by the Chairman, in which she alludes to my “apparent intent to intimidate
councillors and bend them to your will”. Councillor xxxx position on the matter of the revised
minute is also further compromised in that he ‘proposed’ the change in the minutes which
relates to his own defamation statement. I also make the following points about this matter

Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich IP1 2BX
Telephone: (0300) 1234 000
www.babergh.gov.uk www.midsuffolk.gov.uk

1. I note the Clerk has chosen not to record the matter of my enquiry of the Chairman in the
Minutes, which would seem an oversight given it is later referred to in Councillor Wombwell’s
accusation. Perhaps this should be rectified.

2. Given the requirements of the Suffolk Code of Conduct, it’s interesting that the Chairman
failed to intervene or provide advice to Councillor Wombwell about the inappropriate nature
and manner of his accusations.

3. In considering Mr Wombwell’s proposition that I was attempting to intimidate the Council,
and indeed xxxxxxx parallel email accusations I would ask Councillors to bear in mind the
following:

a) I have consistently expressed concerns in writing and publicly that EBPC’s work in
representing the village community, lack’s transparency and community engagement. Indeed
I addressed the Extraordinary Meeting of the Parish Council Section 146 Committee on this
subject on June 16th.

b) My attempt to obtain clarification from the Chairman at the July 14th meeting related
directly to lack of transparency and engagement, as the Chairman had just announced that
email direction had been given to Councillors on how the specific agenda matter was to be
handled; and that Councillor xxxxx would present a paper. Neither had been prior advised to
the public, and my clarification was to learn when these documents would be released to the
public.

I was not allowed to seek the clarification required, nor has the Parish Clerk responded to my
requests for that information.

c) Not only have I made clear my concerns on this lack of engagement with the community, in
2021 I participated in the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group, making clear that I wished to
advise on its communications, which are so critical to the group’s outreach to the community.
In so doing I produced a detailed Communication Strategy, which was not adopted. I also
prepared a detailed Comms Plan for the Parish Council, which was also rejected. Messrs
xxxxxxx and Wombwell are members of that Working Group, and are well aware of those
inputs.

d) In March this year I emailed the Parish Clerk, responding to the Council’s invitation for
applications to the open position of Parish Councillor. I was unsuccessful in this application.

I would suggest these examples are of a villager committed to improving the effectiveness of
its Parish Council, not one who is minded to intimidate it, or “…bend them to my will”.

Response of the Councillor:

Councillor Wombwell considers the complaint to be inaccurate and unjustified and that he did
not make the remarks attributed to him about the complainant.

Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich IP1 2BX
Telephone: (0300) 1234 000
www.babergh.gov.uk www.midsuffolk.gov.uk

Councillor Wombwell referenced the minutes of the meeting and that the statement he made
has been correctly summarised. He did not reference the complainant by name. Councillor
Wombwell provided some context to the parish council meeting held on the 14 July 2022 and
that one item on the agenda related to a controversial planning application (DC/22/03043).
Meetings are frequently unattended by the public but on this occasion, there were about 5
people in the public gallery.

Only one member of the public (not Mr Brigden) spoke during the open public session of the
meeting.

When it came to the item to discuss the planning application, there was an interruption from
the public gallery by Mr Brigden. The Chair reminded Mr Brigden that the public was not
entitled to speak in this part of the meeting and he was asked to be quiet. Unfortunately, Mr
Brigden refused, stood up and demanded that the council address an item of correspondence
that he had earlier submitted, on “council transparency”. There followed something of a
discussion between Mr Brigden and the Chair, with the Chair eventually saying that she would
close the meeting if he refused to keep quiet.

Councillor Wombwell stated that all members of the parish council were visibly shocked at this
exchange and one Councillor, who was about to present his detailed report, stood and said
that he was not prepared to deliver his report under such circumstances which led to Mr
Brigden shouting out again and the Chair being required to intervene.

After the report was presented, the Chair time-limited Councillor feedback to 3mins each.
Councill Wombwell was the first to speak, but before discussing the planning application, felt
obliged to say how much he deplored the public behaviour that they had just witnessed along
the lines that he was shocked by the rowdiness of the public interruptions, and the timing,
which occurring just before a major planning application was being discussed. He felt this
could be perceived as an attempt to intimidate the Councillors’ decision making. Councillor
Wombwell did not name anyone but noted it was obvious who was the perpetrator of the
interruption.

Relevant Parts of the Suffolk Local Code of Conduct:

Councillor Rob Wombwell is alleged to have breached the Suffolk Code of Conduct under
paragraphs:-

1.1 I treat other councillors and members of the public with respect.

Details of Investigation Undertaken:

The Monitoring Officer has considered the complaint and the responding statement from
Councillor Wombwell. In addition, the Deputy Monitoring Officer has considered Guidance on
the Code of Conduct for Members issued by the Local Government Association.

Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich IP1 2BX
Telephone: (0300) 1234 000
www.babergh.gov.uk www.midsuffolk.gov.uk

Consultation with the Independent Person:

The Independent Person has considered this complaint and their view is that they agree with
the findings of the Monitoring Officer and that Councillor Wombwell has not breached the
Code of Conduct for Members.

Conclusion of the Deputy Monitoring Officer

The Monitoring Officer’s role in the context of Parish/Town councils relates and is restricted to
the Conduct of Members. The Deputy Monitoring Officer has therefore only considered matters
relating to the alleged conduct of Councillor Wombwell.

Although I am satisfied that Councillor Rob Wombwell was acting in his official capacity at the
time of the alleged behaviour, I have not upheld the complaint.

Elected members will engage in robust debate at times and are expected to express, challenge,
criticise and disagree with views, ideas, opinions, and policies. Doing these things in a
respectful way help to build and maintain healthy working relationships with fellow councillors,
officers, and members of the public, it encourages others to treat them with respect and helps
to avoid conflict and stress. Respectful and healthy working relationships and a culture of
mutual respect can encourage positive debate and meaningful communication which in turn
can increase the exchange of ideas, understanding and knowledge.

Failure to treat others with respect will occur when unreasonable or demeaning behaviour is
directed by one person against or about another. The circumstances in which the behaviour
occurs are relevant in assessing whether the behaviour is disrespectful. The circumstances
include the place where the behaviour occurs, who observes the behaviour, the character and
relationship of the people involved and the behaviour of anyone who prompts the alleged
disrespect.

Examples of disrespect in a local government context might include rude or angry outbursts in
meetings, use of inappropriate language in meetings or written communications such as
swearing, ignoring someone who is attempting to contribute to a discussion, attempts to shame
or humiliate others in public, nit-picking and fault-finding, the use of inappropriate sarcasm in
communications and the sharing of malicious gossip or rumours.

Freedom of expression is protected more strongly in some contexts than others. In particular,
a wide degree of tolerance is accorded to political speech, and this enhanced protection applies
to all levels of politics, including local government. Article 10 protects the right to make incorrect
but honestly made statements in a political context but it does not protect statements which
the publisher knows to be false. Political expression is a broad concept and is not limited to
expressions of or criticism of political views but extends to all matters of public administration
including comments about the performance of public duties by others. However, gratuitous
personal comments do not fall within the definition of political expression.

Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich IP1 2BX
Telephone: (0300) 1234 000
www.babergh.gov.uk www.midsuffolk.gov.uk

Councillors are allowed to respond to criticism, and where that criticism is robust, then they
can be robust in response. However, councillors should always seek to try to be civil and
demonstrate leadership in their communication. Even where councillors have been wrongly
accused, responding in an angry, defensive way can often escalate the situation.

It would appear that, at the meeting of the Parish Council, Mr Brigden did not speak out during
the open public session on the Agenda but rather waited until members were discussing an
item later on. The chair correctly advised Mr Brigden, that he was unable to participate during
this item however Mr Brigden did not appear to accept that this should be the case. I accept
there was an exchange of words, but I consider it was a robust exchange so as to maintain
order in the meeting rather than a disrespectful exchange.

There is no right of appeal against these decisions and accordingly, the complaint file is now
closed.

If you are not satisfied with this assessment, you can contact the Ombudsman via the link
below:

https://www.lgo.org.uk/make-a-complaint/fact-sheets/other-topics/complaints-about-
standards-and-member-conduct

Although they do not offer a right of appeal against the Council’s decision on such complaints,
they can consider if there has been any fault in the way the Monitoring Officer considered the
complaint.

Teresa Halliday
Deputy Monitoring Officer – Babergh and Mid Suffolk Councils