York woman could face three-month ban from council meetings

Gwen Swinburn was escorted from a public council meeting by security

A woman could be barred from attending public meetings after she was accused of defaming a council officer.

Gwen Swinburn often attended City of York Council meetings to comment on the authority's governance.

In one meeting, she said a council officer "did not have a clue what they were talking about" and was escorted out after refusing to apologise.

Ms Swinburn said the council was "making a mountain out of less than a molehill".

She was later sent a letter accusing her of defamation.

Ms Swinburn's comments were in response to a decision to exempt a letter from being read out at the Joint Standards Committee on January 31 because a deadline was missed by the councillor who wrote it.

Councillor Martin Rowley, who chaired the meeting, asked for an apology and her subsequent removal from the meeting.

Ms Swinburn then received a letter from the council's director of governance Bryn Roberts on 12 February, which described her behaviour as "unacceptable and disruptive".

'Not made lightly'

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, it said: "You defamed a member of the City of York Council staff, refused to either withdraw your statement or apologise, and thereafter refused to leave the meeting until you were escorted out by the council's security provider.

"Such behaviour is unacceptable and is disruptive of the lawful business of the council."

Mr Roberts has recommended that the council should refuse Ms Swinburn's attendance at any council meeting for three months.

He said the recommendation was "not made lightly" but said she had a "history of failing to adhere to the constitutional requirements relating to public participation".

Ms Swinburn had until 17:00 GMT on February 19 to comment but she did not.

A City of York Council spokesperson said: "While we do not comment on individual cases, as a council we have a duty of care to all of our officers, who have no right of reply to the public, and we cannot and will not permit officers to be defamed without consequence."

They added that although the public had a general right to attend meetings, it was not an absolute right irrespective of their conduct.

"Where any member of the public has been ejected from a meeting for misbehaviour, it is entirely reasonable that the council reacts in a proportionate way to modify the behaviour of any disruptive member of the public," the spokesperson said.

The incident, which was live streamed on YouTube, has since been deleted from the recording.