By ROBERT GIBSON robert.gibson@hexham-courant.co.uk

Last updated at 13:12, Friday, 05 February 2010

A TOWN councillor who left voicemail messages deemed to be offensive has been cleared of breaching council rules after a year-long investigation.

Relieved: Coun. Tony Williamson is pleased that his name has been cleared, and says the year-long investigation was an unnecessary waste of tax payers’ money.

Coun. Tony Williamson allegedly shouted abuse on messages left for Prudhoe’s town mayor Coun. Jennifer McGee and the clerk of Prudhoe Town Council, Richard Whinney.

The following day he also delivered an envelope to the town council with a drawing of a skull-and-crossbones in place of a stamp.

But Northumberland County Council’s standards sub-committee has ruled that while his actions were “at times ill-judged and inappropriate”, they did not constitute a breach of Prudhoe Town Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct.

“I’m relieved because I don’t think I did anything wrong, other than being myself,” said Coun. Williamson this week.

“This has lasted for more than a year and I think it’s been a waste of public money, especially considering the outcome.

“If I’d done something really wrong, then fair enough, but all I did was express an opinion that upset some people.

“I feel it was a storm in a teacup, and that the town council made too much out of it.”

The incident occurred in December 2008, after a meeting of Prudhoe Gardeners’ Association, which looks after the allotments of behalf of the town council.

Coun. Williamson, the association’s chairman, disagreed with minutes taken by Mr Whinney, but was unable to contact either him or Coun. McGee, and so left the messages in frustration.

“When I returned home that day, I listened to it and thought it was quite abusive and offensive,” Coun. McGee said. “He said some really nasty things.

“The next morning I got in touch with the clerk and he said he had received the same.

“I had never been spoken to that way either by councillors or by members of the public – he wasn’t just talking, he was shouting and it was upsetting.”

The next day, Coun. McGee added, Coun. Williamson delivered information from the gardeners’ association to the town council.

In place of a stamp was a skull-and-crossbones, accompanied by the message, ‘Merry Christmas’, which Coun. McGee found “quite threatening”.

The town council as a whole became involved and decided Coun. Williamson may have breached three areas of the code:

l failing to treat others with respect

l bullying

l using his position improperly to confer or secure for himself or another person an advantage of disadvantage

“Maybe I’m a dinosaur, but politics was always done on a knock for knock basis,” Coun. Williamson said.

“You had a go at them and they had a go at you, but they’re starting to use rules and regulations to shut people up so they’re too scared to express themselves.

“In a politically correct world, how do you express that you are upset?”

Coun. McGee, however, defended the council’s actions.

“If he had spoken to me in a reasonable manner we could have discussed this,” she said.

“But the way he went about it was totally unacceptable.

“I can put up with somebody getting a bit excited, but it’s a different matter when they are quite abusive, especially to staff.

“We didn’t want it to get to this stage, but we felt we had no choice because of the seriousness of the matter.”

Had Coun. Williamson been found to have breached the code, the case would have gone to a full hearing by the consideration and hearings sub-committee, compromising one independent representative, one member of Northumberland County Council and a parish or town council member.

If this sub committee agreed with the preliminary finding, various sanctions could be imposed, including censure, a request for an apology, or suspension of up to six months.

Councillors can also be asked to undertake training or conciliation.

First published at 09:40, Friday, 05 February 2010
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk