A finding that a Tory councillor breached council conduct rules has been upheld following an independent review.
Preston councillor Liam Bones was found to have failed "to treat others with respect" after republishing online a Daily Mail story regarding the use of Union Jack bunting and political imagery in the Conservative Group room at North Tyneside Council's HQ in Cobalt.
The story included the name of the council officer who raised concerns that the imagery, including cardboard cut-outs of Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill, would undermine the political neutrality within the council building. The Mail's story was republished on Coun Bones' Facebook group North Shields Life.
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The initial decision that Coun Bones has breached the council's code of conduct was made on December 7, last year. During the initial standards committee hearing, Coun Bones was however cleared of bringing the council into disrepute.
Coun Bones maintained he was not acting as a councillor when he republished the story, and therefore the council's code of conduct did not apply. He also maintained the republishing of the story did not, in his view, undermine the relationship between councillors and council officers.
North Tyneside Council's standards committee found, by a majority vote, Coun Bones had failed to show respect to the council officer. The committee determined that Coun Bones should undertake training, which was completed on January 26 and write a letter of apology to the former council officer.
A draft letter of apology is currently with the council's monitoring officer. Immediately after the breach was announced last year, Coun Bones asked for the breach to be reviewed.
A South Tyneside Council "independent person", a non-council individual involved in local authority complaints procedures, was tasked with reviewing the breach.
The independent person's review said: "Having reviewed all of the documents relevant to the case, I agree with the reasoning and conclusions of the committee and I agree that the decisions reached should stand."
Coun Bones was approached by the Local Democracy Reporting Service but declined to comment on the review.
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