Cyngor Gwynedd Concerns For Safety - Whose?

The minutes presented to cyngor Gwynedd planning committee on the 20th March, 2023, were challenged by its own Councillors. At the previous planning meeting, a recorded vote was asked for due to the controversial decision to refuse an application. The recorded vote was absent from the minutes. One Councillor was not recorded as attending the meeting when they had attended and another Councillor pointed out the lack of detail in the english translated minutes. The lack of information could effect any legal appeal if referring to the english version only. The webcast can be found here - https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/760497

In other news, Councillor Louise Hughes recently spoke to the Daily Post with regard to the reporting of a council meeting that debated the Relationship and Education Curriculum and ended with police being called. Councillor Hughes challenged the narrative of a near riot and said that concerns for officer/member safety were 'over-egged.'

"As far as I’m concerned, there was no physical danger to the councillors or to anyone. There was no violence or threats, certainly no need to bring the police in. I've seen much rowdier meetings when we discussed the closure of our small village schools. If we can’t have robust or opposing debate during council meetings, then what is the point of local democracy?" https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/concerns-over-safety-gwynedd-sex-26535355

The council's 'concerns for safety' are simply an excuse to dilute its duties under the new law - Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021. Scrutiny and public participation are not welcomed by senior officers of this council. Whilst Welsh government is trying to make councils more open cyngor Gwynedd appear as closed as ever... All this coincides with the disappearance of the Employment Appeals Committee from the council's calendar. Is an appeal due...?

Will this have anything to do with the employees rumoured to have been suspended for nearly 10 years? As so much time has passed, the officers will be confident of no legal comeback due to time restraints on reporting. The investigation has been completed and the executive officers with reponsiblities at the time have recently left the council.

With all this going on behind closed doors it was no surprise to find that someone had made a complaint about Councillor Hughes. A meeting of Gwynedd Standards Committee will be held on the 18th, April, 2023. From the agenda - Following a complaint that Councillor Louise Hughes had breached the code of conduct for members of Gwynedd Council, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales decided to conduct an investigation. The Ombudsman concluded that the matter should be referred to the Monitoring Officer for consideration by the Standards Committee. https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/s500008403/Cover%20Report.pdf

Something is very wrong within cyngor Gwynedd...