Complaint resolved - after 9-month wait

LEADER'S 'DON'T BE RIDICULOUS' COMMENT TO QUESTION IS CLEARED

- By WILLIAM TELFORD

A COMPLAINT made against Plymouth City Council leader Tudor Evans, after he answered a member of the public's question with "don't be ridiculous", has been thrown out - but only after the authority took nine months to resolve the issue.

Following a lengthy inquiry into the incident at a cabinet meeting on December 9 last year, the council's monitoring officer said Cllr Evans had been asked a question which was "political in nature" and therefore "the bar as to what is disrespectful is set at a much higher level".

The monitoring officer, Liz Bryant, dismissed the complaint and another against council finance chief Cllr Mark Lowry.

Former Labour councillor Dr Mike Sheaff, who made the complaints, is now taking the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

He is unhappy with the amount of time taken for his complaint to be dealt with and also that, he claims, the council changed its reason for excusing for Cllr Evans' remarks.

Last year, at the cabinet meeting, Dr Sheaff asked Cllr Evans, a former colleague and someone Dr Sheaff still regards as a friend, about criticism of the council included in Mr Justice Sheldon's High Court judgement into the felling of the Armada Way trees that the council had shown a "lack of transparency" and an "inadequate compliance with its duty of candour to the court".

Dr Sheaff submitted a question about Cllr Evans' involvement with officers prior to the hearing and whether he considered their approach to have been acceptable.