Sefton council has escalated a complaint over the deputy leader’s failure to declare company properties.
Cllr John Fairclough, who is deputy leader of the Sefton Labour Group and represents Linacre, was investigated by the council after a complaint made by campaigner John Rice.
Mr Rice, an independent candidate who stood against Cllr Fairclough in recent elections, had complained that the deputy leader failed to declare properties he owned through a company he runs with his son, Fairclough Properties Ltd.
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Mr Rice claimed in a complaint lodged with the borough’s monitoring officer, chief legal and democratic services officer David McCullough, that in failing to declare the properties, Cllr Fairclough was in breach of the members code of conduct.
The code of conduct requires councillors to disclose any beneficial interest in land within the area of the council.
Following the investigation, Mr McCullough found this not to be the case, stating that no further action should be taken against the deputy council leader, who made assurances that he did not benefit financially from his role with the company. He said the council’s register has now been updated.
Mr Rice then complained to the monitoring officer about the outcome of the investigation, and in an email sent by Mr McCullough yesterday and seen by the ECHO, the monitoring officer stated that Cllr Fairclough had “not been cleared”.
Mr McCullough stated: “I pointed out that I had undertaken an initial assessment of your complaint and outlined those areas of your complaint which did not come within the jurisdiction of the Members Code of Conduct and the issue which could not be held to be a breach of the Code.
“I then outlined the steps that had been taken to rectify the position in the hope of resolving matters at an early stage, i.e. amendment of Cllr Fairclough’s Register of Interests.
“As this has not resolved your complaint to your satisfaction, I will now move to the next stage of the complaints process, which is to refer your complaint to a meeting of the Audit and Governance Initial Assessment Sub-Committee for consideration as to what, if any, further steps should be taken.”
Mr Rice said this constituted a “u-turn” in the council’s position brought about after he complained about the handling of his complaint, although this is disputed by the council, which regards Mr McCullough’s email as meaning that as the complaint has not been resolved to Mr Rice’s satisfaction, it is being moved on to the next stage.
Opposition politicians have also made statements about Cllr Fairclough’s declarations since it was first reported by the ECHO, with Lib Dem deputy leader Gareth-Lloyd Johnson calling on Cllr Fairclough to make a statement on the matter and the leader of the Conservative Group, Cllr Mike Prendergast calling on the deputy leader to apologise.
Sefton Council declined to comment.
Cllr Fairclough did not respond to a request for comment.
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