Councillor won't stand again over 'hateful emails'

“I have noticed there has been a change with the way some councillors treat other councillors,” says Austin Roberts

A councillor has said he will not stand again after receiving “hateful emails” from fellow members.

Austin Roberts spoke during a Conwy council meeting where a motion condemning the intimidation of local members was voted through.

It said intimidation and abuse undermined democracy, preventing elected members from representing their communities.

The council has committed itself to challenging the “normalisation of abuse” against councillors and officers.

The council will write to MPs and government to ask that they work with the Local Government Association on stamping out intimidation and abuse.

But during the debate, Mr Roberts said he would not stand for Conwy council again, due to the behaviour of some colleagues.

Mr Roberts, who has been a councillor for seven years, said he had noticed a change in the way some of his colleagues treated other members since the last election.

“And as somebody who has received hateful emails from fellow councillors, I agree we should be protected, and I also agree sometimes this can be off-putting, and it has put me off being a member of this council in the future, and I will not be standing.”

'Really saddened'

“So I also know that I’m not the only councillor who has received hateful emails from fellow councillors. If this motion puts a stop to that, then I’m for it and supportive of it; however, I don’t feel it will.”

Fellow councillor Nigel Smith said he was “really saddened” by those comments after working alongside the Plaid Cymru member for Eglwysbach and Llangernyw for a number of years.

“And whilst I support everything that’s in this document, it’s just a piece of paper, and it needs backing up with swift, tough action, and those people who are sending emails like the ones we’ve been informed of today, they need to be taken to task,” said Mr Smith.

Another councillor, Andrew Wood, said he was also disturbed by the words of someone for whom he had “huge respect”.

“I just want to say we need to practice what we preach, and when people bring things forward, they must think about their own actions as well.”

Councillor Austin Roberts spoke during a debate at the Conwy council offices in Bodlondeb

Another member, Goronwy Edwards, said he believed processes were already in place to deal with abusive behaviour.

“I’ve been here since 1991 on the old authority, so I have been here since the start of this authority as well, and during that time, I’ve had certain comments made to me, but I believe we have the processes in place to deal with that in any case,” he said.

“Any member can go to the monitoring officer if they have an issue and say I feel that this is inappropriate, and the monitoring officer will get back to you with advice or take the matter further, so I don’t really see what having this additional document will add to the situation.”

But David Carr said councillors should be able to have robust debates without hate coming into the conversation.

“I think we do need to pass this,” said Mr Carr.

“If we don’t pass it, what kind of message would that send out to the public?”