Cllr Hayward questioned the transparency of a process in which councillors were being asked to agree to a list of party nominations for the award of the honorary title “alderman”, just a list of names with no evidence supporting their nomination.

There was a short delay between the Annual Meeting and this special meeting whilst the constitution was checked after Independent Cllr Paul Hayward raised this.

The public have the perception that an Alderman has done something exceptional, not that it is a title awarded to all in sundry.

Owl thinks he has a point.

Current Practice

The new Chair, Cllr Caroline Leaver, explained that it is possible for any councillor to make a nomination for the honour of “Alderman” at the special meeting convened after the DCC Annual Meeting, but the convention is that Party Group leaders make them. The only rule appears to be that the list is approved by the full council.

In an earlier post, Owl reported that Clllr Leadbetter nominated 17 for the Tories (a “Dancing Queen” in Bingo parlance, almost doubling the existing number) and Cllr Brazil, 2 for the Lib Dems.

From listening to the recording, these seem to include one posthumous award and one award to a sitting member. The remainder having been voted out or retired.

Cllr Hayward’s query

The question Cllr Hayward raised concerned the transparency of a process in which councillors were being asked to agree to a simple list of party nominations, just names with no supporting evidence. A process which would be particularly confusing in a council which had just seen a massive turnover in councilllors.

New councillors were then advised by the Chair that they could abstain, which they appeared to do in numbers.

Apparently this is constitutional, but it does raise the question of whether the constitution is in urgent need of reform.

East Devon Case Study – Alderman John Humphreys subsequently jailed

Those of us in East Devon will be aware that despite being arrested first in 2016 John Humphreys continued to serve as a Councillor until May 2019. He was bestowed the honour of alderman by EDDC in December 2019. In November 2020 Humphreys appeared at Exeter Crown Court and pleaded ‘not guilty’ to ten charges of historical sex offences. In August 2021 he was convicted of the historic rape of two boys and sentenced to 21 years. His honorary title was stripped from him in September 2021.

[DCC has faced its own problems with regard to former Council Leader Brian Greenslade, (correction to earlier version of this post – Owl does not believe he was ever appointed an Alderman, he was attending meetings as late as February 2021) was found guilty in May 2021 of two counts of indecent assault and one of sexual assault in the 1990s and 2000s and jailed for 16 months.]

Discussion

Precedent indicates that councillors have been awarded the honorific “alderman” for the following reasons:

Long service

Distinguished service

Some particularly notable achievement.

Placing nominations in the hands of Party Leaders not only gives them an additional lever of control, it is unclear how this list is created, or even whether party members are consulted.

It is an opaque process that appears to be wholly led by members, within their own group, and there is likely to be no form of “quality control” or qualitative assessment of the merits of those nominated. It is, therefore, extremely unlikely that there will be any consistency between party groups.

Many councils have Nominations Committees to consider nominations in the round and provide scrutiny, but not Devon County Council where the process appears very vague.

Surely, at the very least, in DCC, all councillors, and indeed the members of the public, should see some sort of brief justification for the rationale behind a nomination?