Promotion of equality & respect: Wrexham County Borough Council

It was alleged that a member (“the Member”) of Wrexham County Borough Council (“the Council”) used offensive language and was intimidating and aggressive towards a member of the public.

The Ombudsman’s investigation considered whether the Member’s conduct may have reached paragraphs 4(b), 4(c) and 6(1)(a) of the Code of Conduct.  Information was obtained from the Council.  Witnesses, including the complainant, were interviewed.  The Member was interviewed.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found that there was no witness evidence, other than that of the complainant and Member, available to account for what was said during the exchange between the Member and complainant.  Witness evidence was provided by members of the public which supported the Member’s contention that the complainant had previous similar incidents.  The investigation found that the incident was reported to the Police who determined that the incident was a clear “one word against the other” and documented that there was no supporting evidence to support either account.  The Police took no further action against the Member and therefore no evidence of the allegedly poor behaviour on the part of the Member was found by the Police.  On the balance of the available evidence, the Ombudsman was not persuaded that there was evidence of a breach of the Code.

Accordingly, the Ombudsman found that under Section 69(4)(a) of the Local Government Act 2000 there was no evidence of any failure to comply with the Code.