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Council sets example of openness

Congleton Chronicle reporter Sue Dickens got an unexpected scoop when she went to a debate on the result of an investigation into the leader of a local council.

Coun Linda Short, the leader of Congleton Borough Council, had been independently investigated for allegedly breaking the local government codes of conduct.

Sue, the only newspaper journalist to attend the meeting, went along fully expecting to be asked to leave so it could be held in private session.

“We’re the only paper that covers a lot of the meetings, but it was supposed to be private so I didn’t even take my coat off,” said Sue.

But at the start of the meeting the council announced that under The Human Rights Act, there was no reason why the report should not be read out in public, unless councillors had strong objections.

To Sue’s amazement, there were no objections and all of the allegations about Coun Short were read out for the first time.

The investigation found that Coun Short was guilty of breaking the local council’s code of conduct five times.

During the meeting councillors were also due to vote to decide if Coun Short should resign, but before the meeting she handed in her resignation as council leader and a vote was made to accept this.

She remains a councillor and is still the leader of the local Liberal Democrat party, the controlling group.

More in-depth details of the investigation appears in the Chronicle today (Thursday).

And there’s more about the Human Rights Act at The Society of Editors.

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