Council issue statement 70 days after mess of Full Council meeting on City Status bid

Wrexham Council have issued an unprompted statement ten weeks after a council meeting that saw groups threaten to walk out amid a row over a debate on City Status.

As we reported at the time the City Status decision was booted back to executive board following shambolic council meeting.

The shambolic public display did not tell the full story, as we reported that behind closed doors during a suspension of the meeting the Administration and Labour threaten to walk out – prompting the Mayor to then perform a public u-turn.

Today following private discussions between the Mayor, political group leaders and ‘key’ officers a “public statement regarding future council meetings” has been issued from Wrexham Council.

The statement (below in full) effectively says if the Mayor had not conducted a u-turn then the council would have acted unconstitutionally.

It also suggests that the current Mayor has not been given the right training by Wrexham Council, and that future training plans have also been changed to correct that error for future Mayors.

Likewise all future new councillors will be given training around how meetings are run and the key element of the constitution , again suggesting there are issues around current councillors on such matters.

The Mayor and Group Leaders recognise the need to have high-quality public debate in Council meetings that respects different viewpoints and individuals, and that upholds democratic principles.

Following positive meetings, since the November Council meeting, between the Mayor, Group Leaders and key officers, it has been recognised that at that Council meeting in November there was a risk that if the legal advice provided by the monitoring officer, which was ultimately accepted, had not been followed then the Council would have been acting unconstitutionally.

To address this for future meetings, the following positive actions have been agreed:

• Training for the current Mayor around chairing, the constitution and the role of the monitoring officer.
• Training for incoming Mayors around chairing, the constitution and the role of the monitoring officer.
• Training for all Councillors as part of their induction around the types of meeting debates, the constitution and the role of the monitoring officer.

Wrexham.com understands an external view of the meeting was commissioned, however aside from the statement no further information has been released.

A section of the meeting prior to the long suspension is viewable below:

Top pic: Mayor, Ronnie Prince.