Cheltenham mayor Sandra Holliday will not resign over bullying

Councillor Sandra Holliday remains Cheltenham's mayor

The mayor of Cheltenham has said she will not resign after a complaint of bullying against her was upheld.

Councillor Sandra Holliday was suspended from the Liberal Democrats in September by the party standards panel.

It found her comments about another councillor were "variously misleading, unsubstantiated, untrue, offensive and undermining".

Ms Holliday said she considered the internal party matter closed and would now focus on serving her constituents.

The complaint was brought by former Lib Dem (now Green) councillor Wendy Flynn in response to comments the mayor made during Cheltenham Borough Council's annual general meeting in May 2021.

On 20 September, the party standards panel dismissed a complaint over discrimination but upheld the complaint of bullying and intimidation.

It decided to suspend Ms Holliday's party membership for 12 months.

'Insulting and humiliating'

The panel found two of the comments made by Ms Holliday were "malicious in intent, one of which is hypocritical, insulting and humiliating and the other amounts to defamation of the complainant's character".

It said Ms Holliday had not shown any remorse, although during questions she said with the benefit of hindsight she would "not have uttered a word", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"I consider this internal party matter now closed and I look forward to continuing my focus on my constituents and serving Cheltenham as mayor," Ms Holliday said.

She is currently listed as a non-aligned councillor on Cheltenham Borough Council's website.

Ms Flynn said she was pleased with the standards report and said she felt her name had "been cleared".