Daily Archives: 9 Sep 2014

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9 Sep 2014

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National Farmers Union confirms disgraced ex-councillor Graham Brown was their rep on the East Devon Business Forum

In response to a comment on the previous article, here is a link that confirms that, up to his resignation in 2013, disgraced ex-councillor Graham Brown was a local National Farmers Union representative to the East Devon Business Forum:

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/councillor-Graham-Brown-resigns-chairman-East/story-18424282-detail/story.html

Would one call that ” agricultural business”?

And here he describes himself in 2009 as “a farmer”:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8273029.stm

and here

“East Devon Branch of the National Farmers Union
Graham Brown representing the NFU, reported that there was huge frustration amongst his members that single farm payments had not been made in England. Concern was expressed that there could be a huge change in the British landscape as farming was facing a financial crisis. He was keen to take members of the Business Forum on site visits, with up to 3 possible visits lined up.”

Click to access east_devon_business_forum_minutes-25-01-07.pdf

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9 Sep 2014

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Democracy, EDBF, EDDC, Ottery St Mary

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Disgraced ex- councillor Graham Brown breached planning conditions on his own home for more than 10 years!

Well done, Express and Echo for getting this story!

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Disgraced-councillor-seeks-make-Ottery-St-Mary/story-22898229-detail/story.htm

So, just to be clear, the man who dominated Planning in East Devon for many years, who indicated in the Telegraph that he was interested in receiving tens of thousands of pounds in exchange for winning planning approvals, was all along living in a new property he had promised his own Planning Department would always remain for someone working in agriculture. When in fact he was living there pursuing other commercial activities all along.

Did no fellow councillors, or planning officers – all fully aware that he was a planning “consultant” and builder – think this a bit odd. Did nobody pipe up?

Still, a splendid entertainment is promised at the district in the next few months. How will Planning Chairman Helen Parr deal with this when it comes – as it must – before the Development Management Committee? Will Mr Brown perhaps grace the chamber with his presence? And just how hard will EDDC strive to keep this one off any public agenda before next May?

Let us not forget that while he was illegally occupying this property, he was:

A district councillor

Chairman of the first Local Development Framework (Local Plan) panel (which met in secret)

Chairman of the East Devon Business Forum – a group fully-funded by East Devon District Council, and with one of its senior officers as its Secretary, and made up of local landowners and builders who persuaded EDDC to ignore two sets of consultants in order to favour their figures, particularly on employment land

Director of a local planning consultancy (Greygreen Planning Ltd) and building company

For part of the time EDDC Business Champion

AND

Councillor for Feniton and Bucketell when, by coincidence, that area was flooded by developers wanting to increase the size of the village by 40%

And all this time he was breaking planning rules …..

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Monitoring Officers: toothless not-even tigers

What can you say when the sanction for this behaviour is: you cannot talk to female officers and having your phone taken away?

An independent councillor at a North West local authority has been banned from speaking to female officers and had a mobile phone provided by the council removed, after a panel decided he had used it to call premium rate sex chat lines and to send “inappropriate” text messages.

When conducting a review of its mobile phone contract, Wigan Council discovered that Cllr Robert Bleakley had run up a bill of £2,418.95.
Bleakley failed to attend a hearing on the matter last week. However, the cross-party panel, led by the chair of Wigan’s standards committee, decided there was enough information to proceed in his absence.

The panel found that Cllr Bleakley had broken Wigan’s ICT policy and breached paragraph 5 and 6 (b) (i) of the members’ Code of Conduct when he used his mobile phone inappropriately.

Sanctions imposed by the panel included the removal of his IT equipment, including his mobile phone, and removal of his internet access.
“He must also undergo equal opportunities training, and female officers will be instructed not to speak to him,” the council said.

It is the third time that the councillor has been subject to a standards hearing in 2014.

In February he was found guilty of “deliberately altering an email in an attempt to jeopardise a senior employee’s job”, Wigan said.
The next month he was found guilty of viewing pornographic material on his laptop, which had been issued by the council.

Cllr Bleakley had previously been disqualified and suspended twice by the Standards Board for England. He was also removed from the Liberal Democrat Party.

Wigan’s chief executive, Donna Hall, said: “I am appalled and sickened with the language used in these messages. It is quite clear, judging by the content of Cllr Bleakley’s text messages, that he has a problem with women.
“I will not tolerate this prejudice, nor will I allow him to come into contact with female officers until he has undertaken equal opportunities training.”

Source: http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19894:councillor-banned-from-speaking-to-female-officers-has-phone-taken-away&catid=59&Itemid=27