Posted: Mon 10th Jul 2017

Allegations of ‘election law breaches’ at Hawarden Community Council being investigated by Police

News and Info from Deeside, Flintshire, North Wales
This article is old - Published: Monday, Jul 10th, 2017

Deeside.com has learned that North Wales Police are investigating potential “breaches of elections law” at Hawarden Community Council.

The allegations of possible election law breaches have come to light following the ‘co-opting’ of a councillor to Hawarden Community Council.

Deeside.com initially asked Flintshire Returning Officer Colin Everett, the County Council’s Chief Executive if there had been any allegations of electoral fraud following Local Government Elections in May and the General Election in June

Mr Everett told us:

A number of complaints have been received, most of which were resolved fairly promptly with the cooperation of the parties concerned. ‎

North Wales Police were involved with several complaints of potential breaches of elections law. These complaints remain confidential pending any decision by the Police to investigate further.

North Wales Police were involved with several complaints of potential breaches of elections law. These complaints remain confidential pending any decision by the Police to investigate further.

Following our request to Mr Everett it has since come to light that police are investigating a complaint at Hawarden Community Council which centres around the co-opting of an applicant for a vacancy in the Ewloe Ward.

Matt Georgiou, Deputy Monitoring Officer for Flintshire County Council confirmed they were assisting Hawarden County Council with the complaint, he said: “We can confirm that we are assisting the Clerk with a complaint made against the decision to admit a candidate to the co-opted position but are not able to divulge details at this stage.”

We asked police if they were investigating an issue specifically at Hawarden Community Council a North Wales Police spokesman told Deeside.com;

We are aware of this allegation and an investigation is on-going.

 

The complaint follows Local Government elections in May, when the vacant Ewloe seat remained unfilled, the Clerk of the Council asked Councillors to consider filling the vacancy by co-option which was agreed at a meeting May 15.

Co-opting is a process whereby a person who has expressed an interest in becoming a Councillor, in this case for the vacant Ewloe seat, submits a formal application which is then voted on by Councillors at a meeting.

Co-opting is used when there’s simply not enough interest within the community to hold an election, this is often due in part to the communication process between a Town and Community Councils and the residents they serve and often leads to accusations of ‘cronyism’ within these small voluntary bodies.

A Notice of Motion submitted

Documents posted on the Hawarden Community Council website ahead of a full Council meeting tonight, Monday, July 10 include a ‘Notice of Motion’ (NOM) signed by four Community Councillors relating to the late submission of application.

The NOM says a decision to co-opt a new Councillor for the Ewloe ward was based on incorrect information about when the candidate’s application was submitted and asks for the decision taken by the Council to be rescinded.

Two people applied for the Ewloe vacancy, a Labour candidate whose application was submitted within the prescriptive timeframe set out by the Clerk and another candidate who application was received late.

Prior to a vote, Councillors were told the late application had been posted through the door of the Council office at 4.30pm on June 2 – just 30 minutes after the agreed deadline.

CCTV footage

It’s since come to light through CCTV footage gathered from the Council offices, the late applicant posted the documents through the door of the office on the following Sunday afternoon, 48 hours or so after the cut-off point and contrary to what Councillors were told when co-opting the candidate onto the Council.

Also, according to the application process, “All interested parties would be asked to contact the Clerk and write a letter to express their interest as to why they wished to be considered as a Community Councillor and what they would bring to the local community.”

The NOM states the late applicant did not contact the Clerk or write a letter to express interest as to why they wished to be considered for the vacancy, further to this an email from Flintshire County Council’s Monitoring Officer Gareth Owens providing advice on the late application issue was not shared with all Councillors and some details had been omitted the NOM says.

Flintshire County Council Monitoring Officer Gareth Owens was asked for advice on the late application by the Clerk of the Council he said;

At that time it was not known when the application was submitted except that it was after the office closed on 2 June, I therefore gave
advice about whether or not to give the benefit of the doubt to the late applicant.

At the time my advice was that on balance the late application should be rejected because it should be clear that one needs to deliver an application to the Council when its office is open.

It subsequently transpired that the late application was not delivered on the 2nd at all.

Had I known that, then my unequivocal advice would have been to reject the application because it was late and that to accept it would have been unfair to the candidate who submitted on time.

I am aware that a notice of motion has been submitted which asks the Council to rescind the decision to co-opt because, amongst other things, the Council made a decision based on inaccurate information. This gives the Council chance to change a decision which I would have advised it not to make.

So inevitably my unequivocal advice now is that the Council should take that opportunity to reverse what has subsequently turned out to be an unfair decision.

Flintshire County Council Chief Executive and Returning Officer Colin Everett said;

My advice is that the application concerned should not have been admitted on the twin grounds that it was late (this would not be permitted under normal nominations procedures) and was not in the required form (ditto). The application was invalid and the appointment was therefore improper.

It is expected the decision to co-opt the late applicant will be rescinded at this evening’s meeting.

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