Battle of the Code Hots Up
Summary
In February I reported the disturbing story of Bob Mills, a Powys county councillor, who had been told that, because he had written a letter to the local paper questioning the benefits of wind turbines, he would be barred from the council chamber whenever windpower was discussed, though no such ban applied to councillors who supported the council's pro-turbine policy. Since then, I have reported a long succession of similar cases, showing how the unlamented John Prescott's Code of Conduct for councillors, enforced by monitoring officers and the Standards Board, is being used to silence opposition to official policies, undermining the most basic principles of democracy.
Last week I had a call from Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, the chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA), the influential cross-party body representing 500 local authorities in England and Wales, to say that the LGA is very concerned by this issue. In Closer to People and Places, a document published in advance of yet another promised local government Bill, Sir Sandy and his colleagues - including his Labour predecessor Sir Jeremy Beecham - call on the Government "to ensure that councillors are not legally restricted from speaking out for their communities'' on issues such as planning.See the full content of this document
Extract
Battle of the Code Hots Up
The LGA cannot ye...
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