A BETTER BOURNEMOUTH

From: "Councillor John Beesley" <John.Beesley@Bournemouth.gov.uk>

Subject: Statement to Council - 30 July 2013

Date: 31 July 2013 09:16:01 BST

To: "Councillors" <BBCCouncillors@Bournemouth.gov.uk>

Cc: "Tanya Coulter" <Tanya.Coulter@Bournemouth.gov.uk>, "Tony Williams" <Tony.Williams@Bournemouth.gov.uk>, "Liz Wilkinson" <Liz.Wilkinson@Bournemouth.gov.uk>

Dear Colleague

 

Following my statement to Council yesterday I am forwarding you a copy for information.

 

It has been agreed with the Monitoring Officer that the statement will be entered into the minutes of the Council meeting and will also appear amongst the other papers for the meeting  on the Council’s website.

 

I should make it clear that no Councillor received an advance copy of the statement and as there were a number of apologies for the meeting itself it seems appropriate for all Members to receive the statement by email now as a timely conclusion following the Council meeting.

 

Regards,  John

 

Cllr John Beesley

Leader of the Council

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Statement to the Council by the Leader, Cllr John Beesley

 

I am making this statement to the Council in response to the email sent to all Councillors, in addition to others outside the Council, by Councillor West on Saturday 27 July 2013 regarding the Winter Gardens and other matters. That email has subsequently been forwarded to others known to Cllr West who in turn have made further allegations which, similar to the email from Cllr West, are false and misleading and I am currently taking advice on both emails.

 

In the meantime I have already taken advice from the Monitoring Officer regarding my declarations and she has confirmed her legal view to me as follows:-

 

She states, ‘ I can confirm that I am satisfied that the declaration made by you at the Cabinet meeting as recorded in the minutes was appropriate, and in accordance with the advice provided. I can also confirm that the declarations and disclosures of interests made by you during this period were within the remit of the matters which came before the First Tier Tribunal in March 2011. In my view therefore these matters have been considered and dealt with by the relevant body with jurisdiction at that time.’

 

In view of the fact that the email was sent to all Councillors, and seeks my resignation as Leader of the Council and as a Member for the Ward I represent, I wish to state, for the avoidance of doubt, that there is no reason for me to do so and that I therefore have no intention of doing so.  Further, I believe that I enjoy the continued confidence of Members across all parties as Leader of the Council. 

 

I am grateful to the Mayor for using his discretion in granting me permission to make this statement in order to clarify matters publicly for the benefit of the good reputation of the Council.

 

I would ask that this statement be entered into the minutes of this meeting and stand as a public record for the future.

 

30 July 2013