South Ribble councillor disciplined over police call threat

South Ribble councillor Barrie Yates represents Samlesbury and Walton

A councillor who threatened to call the police about the conduct of one of his colleagues has been found to have brought an authority into disrepute.

Barrie Yates made the threat during a row over declaring financial interests at a South Ribble Borough Council planning meeting in December 2020.

The council's standards committee concluded Mr Yates' actions had breached its code of conduct.

Mr Yates said he would complain about the "biased" disciplinary process.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said during the December meeting, the Conservative councillor for Samlesbury and Walton had suggested three committee members had a conflict of interest in an item on the agenda and should not vote on the matter.

He claimed a Labour member had not properly declared a financial interest and said he would get the police involved.

When challenged on that, he took out a mobile phone and said it was "not a threat" and he was "doing it now", though he did not actually contact police.

'Flawed, unfair, biased'

The standards committee concluded that Mr Yates had "a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between a disclosable pecuniary interest and a personal interest".

It found he had breached the code of conduct by failing to treat a fellow councillor "with respect" and by "bullying" him and two other planning committee members.

He was ordered to undergo training in the code of conduct.

Mr Yates said he had referred the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman, due to the way it was handled, and was making a complaint of "maladministration" against the council.

He said the procedures, which saw him removed from the planning committee before the standards committee ruled on his case, were "flawed, unfair, biased [and] not independent or objective".

The council's deputy chief executive Chris Sinnott said the authority had had notification of Mr Yates' intention "to make a complaint with the ombudsman".

"We will follow the process and provide any information they need to help resolve the situation," he added.

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