A CALL has been made for the council to convene an independent investigation into a two-year breach of its constitution.
Last month, resident Philip Meadowcroft pointed out that Wokingham Borough Council leader John Halsall was not allowed to chair a meeting of the Standards Committee – while the meeting was taking place.
Since then, Cllr Halsall and two executive members have resigned, and the council has said that it was an honest mistake that no one has spotted in 21 months.
It also said that the decisions made by the committee could still stand as the committee make-up had been approved by two full council meetings.
But this has not been enough for residents Frank Moore and Mike Shattock, who have written to the council’s chief executive calling for stronger action to be taken. The letter is printed in full on page 18.
“We formally request an independent investigation, possibly by a retired QC or judge, be carried out to ascertain why the council has acted in this manner for nearly two years and the Constitution, applicable to both the Standards Committee and the Audit Committee, not adhered to. This is a serious breach of the WBC Constitution that must be investigated,” they wrote.
This view was echoed by Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Lindsay Ferris, who said: “The whole situation is extremely disappointing, particularly the way in which the council’s reacted, ‘We’ve done nothing wrong, mate’
“We definitely do not feel that independent decisions have been made (by the standards committee) during those 21 months.
“We have been making suggestions that the current process needs to be changed, it has to be much more independent and to be seen to do so.
“I am extremely disappointed by the holier than thou response from the council to say it’s legal. It might be, but it’s amoral and not morally correct to carry on making decisions with the committee.”
However, Cllr Halsall has hit back at his critics, who include Wokingham.Today columnist Tony Johnson who looked at his various committee appointments last week.
“I do take responsibility for everything that goes on in the borough,” he said. “Irrespective of whetherI sit on panels or boards, I have to take an interest in everything that’s going on because ultimately the buck stops here.”
Cllr Halsall said that there are two Conservative group meetings every week and that helps it work as a coordinated team, but ultimately “the eventual strain has to end up on my shoulders”.
“Would Tony Johnson prefer a leader who took no responsibility at all and blamed everybody else, or did nothing?
“I take all the responsibility. I do make mistakes,
I have made mistakes. I’m not sure I know anybody who doesn’t. But because we work as a collective, those mistakes are pointed out and we correct them.
“Under my leadership, we have beefed up by the overview and scrutiny (system of meetings) to a point where pretty much everything goes through the committees, and it has the ability to propose and correct. That’s the way the system should work.
“At the end of the day, we are the party in charge,
we are the party who has the majority and we’re expected to take responsibility. I think the electors would think badly of us if we didn’t.”
But does this mean that he is marking his own homework?
“It is almost impossible for the leader of a council to mark their own homework. You don’t control the council in a way that people would suggest that you might. It’s not possible. It’s a fallacious view of democracy.
“We’ve not pulled back on the programmes we’ve got. We’ve looked after children and adults.
“We’ve looked after schools, we’ve looked after the vulnerable, we’ve looked after covid and our results speak for themselves. And our budget is still ambitious and forward looking.
“That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by hard work and responsibility.”
