Redcar leader apologises for standards breach

Redcar and Cleveland Council leader Mary Lanigan said she had crossed a line

A council leader "shouted like a banshee" at a worker who inadvertently damaged a hedge while strimming, a standards panel has found.

Redcar and Cleveland leader Mary Lanigan has apologised after she was found to have breached the authority's code of conduct.

She also used "pejorative language" about neighbours amid a long-running feud, the panel heard.

Mrs Lanigan said she accepted she had "crossed a line".

The council's standards committee heard Mrs Lanigan and her husband Mike had been in a long-running dispute with neighbours in Easington, East Cleveland, which had seen Mr Lanigan convicted of assault and criminal damage.

The neighbour and another woman lodged formal complaints about Mrs Lanigan, who has led the council since 2019, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The panel found Mrs Lanigan had failed to treat others with respect during an incident on 22 July 2021 when she "shouted like a banshee" at a council worker who damaged young trees and a hawthorn hedge while strimming an area next to the village's war memorial.

Mary Lanigan shouted at a worker strimming around Easington war memorial

The worker told the investigation the Lanigans said they had been taking care of the area for several years and he described her as "screaming, shouting and bellowing on".

Mr Lanigan then threw a 3ft-tall tree at the worker's head causing soil and grit to enter his eye, the panel heard, with Mrs Lanigan keeping a "poker face" and only apologising 15 minutes later.

The panel heard the worker found the council leader's behaviour "astonishing, shocking and appalling".

Later the same day another officer received a "direct, very angry, very loud phone call" from Mrs Lanigan demanding he turn up at the council-owned memorial because the hedge had been destroyed.

The panel said this was "unwarranted and disrespectful".

'Serious breaches'

At a meeting on 28 October 2021, Mrs Lanigan used "pejorative" language in a description of the neighbours and made wrong and unfounded allegations of bullying, the panel said.

It also found Mrs Lanigan had breached the code of conduct by attempting to use her position to benefit her husband when she told the council to allow him to burn rubbish, despite it causing a nuisance to neighbours.

The panel also said other "serious breaches" included bringing her office "into disrepute" and recommended she "be censured", although it is not clear what action would be taken or when.

Mrs Lanigan said she accepted the panel's findings and had "already apologised for any upset caused", adding: "It is very difficult to be removed at times from my role as a councillor while supporting a family member."