Councillor lodges complaint at his rivals who 'keep interrupting me'

A COUNCILLOR has made an official complaint about a political rival who "kept interrupting me" at a council meeting.

- By RICHARD EVANS Local Democracy Reporter

Old Colwyn independent councillor David Carr complained to Conwy County Council's monitoring officer after a row broke out between him and several Labour group members at a Colwyn Bay Town Council meeting in December, leading him to brand the group “toxic”.

Cllr Carr claimed he was unable to speak freely at town council meetings, claiming Labour members had been “shouting him down”.

Conwy Group's Labour leader, Cllr Hannah Fleet, has hit back, claiming the fall out was due to her role as chair intervening and discouraging “irrelevant comments, repetition, or one person talking over another”.

The spats occurred at a town council special meeting about public toilets before Christmas and again last week at a town council policy and finance committee. The latest argument centred around whether a Labour councillor, Chris Hughes, should leave the meeting due to a perceived conflict of interest and a standards committee dispensation being granted. Cllr Hughes has been approached for comment.

This led to a dispute between Cllr Carr and Labour councillors.

Cllr Carr, a former Labour councillor, said: "I have complained to the monitoring officer about Cllr Hannah Fleet.

"She kept interrupting me. They (the Labour councillors) interrupt you all the time. Apart from anything else, it is bad manners. I never interrupt people. She wouldn't let me speak, and then she interrupted me again. I was very annoyed about it. I was forced out of the meeting."

Cllr Carr said he had similar problems at last week’s policy and finance meeting, claiming Hannah Fleet, who chaired the meeting, and another councillor spoke over him.