Teesworks job figure analysis scuppered by councillor accused of "thwarting democracy"
Plus: Redcar Council "not aware" of councillors potentially breaking law
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I’ve been trying to follow up the last edition’s story about Redcar councillors who are in council tax arrears because of the potential criminal implications. Meanwhile there were fireworks across the skies of Teesside on Tuesday, but also in a meeting room at Teesside Airport on Wednesday morning…
On Wednesday I attended the meeting of Tees Valley Combined Authority’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee. In my experience, these sorts of meetings are usually quite dull and unfocused affairs, but credit must be given to both TVCA officers and councillors on the committee for the improvements they’ve made since I last attended in February.
In that time, the meeting has changed set-up so that no councillors’ backs are to the public, and microphones are used so the public can actually hear proceedings. Most councillors were asking appropriate questions and raising good points, while TVCA officers were well-prepared and generally quite frank with their answers.
The turnaround during this year is remarkable, one can only imagine how different things could be had anything close to this standard been achieved over the seven years of TVCA’s existence.
At around an hour and three-quarters into proceedings I had to leave to meet some deadlines. Things seemed to be bubbling along quite nicely and cordially. In response to a presentation of TVCA’s economic masterplan, Cllr Rachel Creevy, a Labour councillor from Hartlepool, was asking questions about differing job figures being quoted by both mayor Ben Houchen and TVCA.
The consensus seemed to be that a deep-dive on the subject would be set up. This would mean TVCA officers creating a presentation to get into the weeds of the data, and for a sub-committee to analyse this.
I left the room as Cllr Creevy made the suggestion that the education sub-committee’s work be paused in order to ensure councillors weren’t swamped with work. It turns out if I had stayed for 30 seconds longer I would have seen one of the most exciting things to have happened in these meetings for years.
Ray Casey from North East Bylines, who was also in attendance, picks up the story…
Councillor Lynn Hall, a member of the education sub-committee, took umbrage at this suggestion, stood up and said that she was leaving the meeting. Steve [Nelson, committee chair] reminded Lynn that to do so would render the committee inquorate, and could be interpreted as a deliberate act.
After being settled by TVCA officers, Cllr Hall threatened to leave for a second time. It was on her third time of threatening to leave that she followed through and left, meaning the meeting would come to a formal end.
Speaking to The Teesside Lead, Cllr Creevy accused Conservative Cllr Hall of “thwarting democracy”.
“Cllr Hall… took offense at my suggestion that we pause the scrutiny investigation into Education and Skills to enable us to undertake a deep dive into job figures,” she said.
“Cllr Hall declared that she would leave the meeting so that it would be inquorate and we wouldn't be able to make a decision.
She added, “it was purely a suggestion to pause, not to cease, the scrutiny investigation (into Education and Skills). Cllr Hall decided her best course of action would be to thwart the democratic process and leave the room, rendering those remaining unable to take a decision.”
The number of councillors attending was the bare minimum for quoracy, meaning it would be unlawful for the committee to make any decisions without Cllr Hall in the room.
She left before the committee had formally approved the decision to analyse job figures, meaning any deep-dive would have to wait until next year. The next opportunity for the Overview & Scrutiny Committee to even approve the decision, let alone begin the sub-committee’s work, will be at their next meeting in mid-January 2025.
Stockton councillor Lynn Hall, a former teacher, shared her concerns with me about the number of young people who weren’t in education, employment or training across the Tees Valley.
“It felt we were ditching it, even though it was just delaying it,” she told me. “It’s so important for young people to act now and not delay.”
Asked if she had “thwarted democracy” by rendering the meeting inquorate, she laughed the suggestion off.
“It isn’t something I make a habit of. I did it because I was following what had been a democratic process which set up this committee, and we’d already agreed the terms of reference earlier in that meeting,” she said.
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In the last edition of The Teesside Lead, I reported there were two Redcar councillors in council tax arrears, but the council wouldn’t name them (they were using a loophole to avoid the legal precedent dictating that they should).
Since publication on Wednesday I’ve been pursuing this story because of the potentially serious legal implications that could be caused by council tax members being in council tax arrears. It’s been a frustrating cat-and-mouse game with press officers, but it’s worthwhile noting it here to keep you up to date.
Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (forgive me for quoting chapter and verse) states that any councillor in council tax arrears for two months has to declare this at any meeting which discusses council tax, and they are not allowed to vote.
It’s serious because this isn’t some constitutional whoopsie, it’s a criminal offence, and any failure by councillors to comply with the law could lead to a conviction and a fine of up to £1,000.
In my attempts to discover whether or not any councillors had committed any crimes, I coincidentally found a councillor who has two unsatisfied CCJs to their name (meaning they are unpaid and outstanding). Redcar Council confirmed to me they do not apply for CCJs in respect of council tax.
I made the case to them that the public interest argument in favour of disclosure outweighs the councillors’ expectation of privacy if a possible crime had been committed. Pointing to the council’s decision in February to raise council tax by 4.99%, I asked if any councillors were in arrears at the time. The council’s spokesperson told me: “We are not aware of any councillors in arrears voting on any budget decision.”
And this is the semantic cat-and-mouse game, isn’t it?
Given the opportunity to say that no crime had been committed, the council has chosen to say it’s “not aware” of any crime being committed.
I asked Cleveland Police about it. Their spokesperson told me: “If Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council believes any wrongdoing has taken place it would be for the Council to look into this internally in the first instance.
“If their findings should reveal any potential offence/s, then at that stage we would expect the Council to report to us so police enquiries into the allegation/s could be undertaken.”
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Thanks as always for reading,
Leigh