Following the outcome and statements made at last night’s South Somerset District Council meeting in relation to the motion of no confidence in the leadership of Cllr. Val Keitch, put forward by Cllr. Martin Wale, I feel that I must put the record straight.
In responding to the motion, Cllr. Keitch stated that the offer of the position of CEO to Clare Pestell was withdrawn once the serious nature of the allegations made against her became known.
This is not accurate. SSDC announced on 4th June 2021 that ‘Clare Pestell has decided that for personal reasons she will not now be taking up the position’. No mention was made in the communication to members of the offer being withdrawn by SSDC, as stated by Cllr. Keitch. The was also clarified with me during a virtual meeting between myself and the then CEO, Alex Parmley that same day.
As late as 8th July, despite asking the question on a number of occasions, I had still not been able to find out why Clare Pestell had resigned.
What does not seem to have been mentioned, is the fact that on at least one occasion the CEO had stayed and received hospitality at Clare Pestell’s vineyard, but did not declare this.
Furthermore, after an Ilminster Town Council meeting at the end of last year I asked Cllr. Keitch outright ‘If there had not been a whistle blower, would we have discovered this?’ Her response was emphatic ‘Yes, we already had our suspicions.’ This is at odds with comments made by Cllr. Keitch at this week’s meeting.
It has been suggested that initially it was felt that the anonymous letter may have been sent maliciously, but I can confirm that there had been many attempts, over a long period of time, to alert the CEO of concerns over corruption and fraud, none of which were heeded.
During last night’s full council meeting my name was mentioned on a number of occasions, particularly in relation to the fact that some years ago, in 2013, I used the services of members of SSDC’s Street Scene to chop down trees at my property in France. I can confirm that the work carried out was done over a weekend, not in working time, by two members of staff, using private transport, and that no money changed hands. As mentioned by a fellow councillor, I have always been very open about this, given that I had nothing to hide and no wrong doing had taken place.
During the investigation into Clare Pestell’s actions, and at the appeal hearing, when it became clear that members of the Street Scene team were under investigation, I immediately offered to declare my interest, and was told that it was not necessary to do so as the appeal hearing related just to Clare Pestell.
Finally, it has been suggested that Cllr. Wale’s motion was brought about for political reasons given the upcoming by-election for my Neorche ward seat. This is not the case at all, rather it seems to me that the issue is being politicised by those SSDC councillors who refuse to acknowledge the failings of their own authority.
No comments:
Post a Comment