South Somerset Council director Clare Pestell sacked over misconduct

Clare Pestell joined South Somerset District Council in 2012 and became its director of commercial and income generation

A senior council officer was sacked for allegedly using council staff to build glamping pods, lay turf and remove a dead pig from her private vineyard.

Clare Pestell was director of commercial and income generation at South Somerset District Council at the time.

A whistleblower prompted an independent report into the claims.

Ms Pestell, who resigned before she was dismissed, refuted the claims and said the report was "flawed and incomplete".

A confidential report by investigator Richard Penn - seen by the BBC and the Somerset Local Democracy Reporting Service - ruled the conduct of Ms Pestell, referred to as CP in the report, amounted to gross misconduct.

Although the report was marked private and confidential, the BBC believes it is in the public interest to report on it.

'Abused her position'

The report said some of the breaches of the council's code of conduct took place in 2020. Ms Pestell, who had been in line to become the authority's new interim chief executive, was summarily dismissed in October 2021.

"I conclude that there is evidence that CP has abused her position as a council director and has failed to ensure that the correct information was documented and declared," Mr Penn ruled.

An investigation identified several occasions where Ms Pestell allegedly used council employees to carry out work on her Dorset winery

"CP has also disregarded government guidance and paid council employees who were in receipt of furlough payments as part of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for work which could be seen as enabling benefit fraud and a reputational risk to the council and the spirit of the scheme to preserve employment.

"CP has been negligent to the council in that she failed to take the appropriate steps to ensure that employees were not working for her and using council resources at the same time as being paid by the council, thereby resulting in a loss to the council."

Ms Pestell - who had already resigned and was serving out her notice at the time she was dismissed - denied the allegations and appealed against the decision but it was upheld by the council.

In a statement sent to the BBC she said the report had been presented in her absence.

She said: "This report is biased, flawed and incomplete; therefore the stated comments referred to are factually incorrect.

"I refute all of the allegations in their entirety to which you refer. For legal reasons I cannot comment further."

Report findings

Mr Penn found Ms Pestell had breached the council's code of conduct numerous times.

He identified several occasions when he found she had used council employees to carry out work on her private winery, Melbury Vale Winery near Shaftesbury in Dorset.

He said Ms Pestell had failed to declare that council staff had been used - on council time - to build glamping pods, strim grass, lay turf outside her cottage and - on one occasion in February 2020 - remove a dead pig from her land.

According to the report, she sent a message to a council officer on 24 February 2020, asking them to take the pig to the Frome Vale livestock dealer near Maiden Newton.

The officer (who is not identified in the report) responded: "I can be with you no later than 10am and will bring everything we need (rope etc.). If you say where we need to get her to, then you can leave it with me."

Ms Pestell also allegedly failed to declare one of her relatives was appointed to the council's commercial services and income generation team.

Mr Penn concluded Ms Pestell had "risked bringing the council into serious disrepute" by paying council employees cash in hand, or in kind, for work done on her winery.

Some of those employees were shielding under the government's coronavirus restrictions, and were already in receipt of furlough payments through the coronavirus job retention scheme.

The report also criticised the "culture" of the council in which the incidents allegedly took place.

Ms Pestell began working for South Somerset District Council in 2012 as a development and valuation manager. She was then promoted in 2017 to become its director of commercial and income generation.

This placed her in charge of investing millions of pounds of taxpayers' money in commercial properties, such as offices and retail outlets, with the rental income serving as a long-term funding source for front-line council services.

The council said the investigation had highlighted a number of actions that it needed to undertake "to ensure lessons are learned"

The council described the investigation as "complex and difficult", and said it had been kept confidential to ensure the "appropriate evidence was gathered and any disciplinary proceedings resulting from the investigations were fair and legal".

A spokesperson said: "We have a proud reputation for going above and beyond to support our communities, and it is vital that we follow our code of conduct in all the work we do, which sets standards of behaviour and conduct that we expect from all of its employees.

"Please be reassured, as this has demonstrated, we take all allegations of misconduct and gross misconduct very seriously, so that we protect our residents, partners and our staff."

Responding to Ms Pestell's comments about the report, South Somerset District Council said: "There is no evidence to suggest that the report is biased, flawed or incomplete in any way.

"In response to the statement that the report was presented in the subject's absence, we can confirm that South Somerset District Council followed the normal, correct council employment procedures in full, which are in line with legal requirements and ACAS guidance.

"Though the subject of the investigation had confirmed their intention to resign, we can confirm that they were still an employee of South Somerset District Council when our appointments committee met to consider the findings of the report and they were summarily dismissed, a decision which was upheld on appeal."