Audit finds fractures and distrust in council ranks

A WATCHDOG has found “fractures and distrust” between councillors and officers at a Welsh council.

- CONOR GOGARTY

The report from Audit Wales highlights “ongoing tensions” within Wrexham council's planning committee.

Recent years have seen significant turbulence over planning issues, not least when Plaid Cymru councillor Marc Jones launched a successful legal challenge against the council’s local development plan.

Although councillors initially approved the strategy, the Supreme Court later ruled in Mr Jones’ favour, and there was then a vote in which councillors backed the scheme’s withdrawal.

Auditor General for Wales Adrian Crompton wrote in his report: “Despite improved relationships in planning committee since our previous audit, some members continue to express a lack of trust in some officers and in the advice they provide.”

He pointed to “excessive” communication from some councillors, including inappropriate requests for information, and noted that “personal confrontation” had at times emerged. Such behaviour, he said, not only goes against the council’s constitution and its vision but fuels an “unhelpful blame culture.”