Council to follow ‘due process’ as it considers how to address allegations from a senior councillor

Wrexham Council have said they “will follow due process in considering how it addresses these allegations” after a senior councillor has made widespread allegations about how decisions are made.

Cllr Malcolm King has voiced his deep concerns over the demolition of the old Vicarage building in Rhosddu, and has also made reference to a decade long ‘pattern of misinformation’ as we noted on Thursday. This has since been broadened out to hint towards issues when he was a Lead Member on the council, and has said of those issues “much of which is still to be disclosed.”

In a widely shared email to all councillors and senior officers last week regarding the Rhosddu demolition, Cllr King said,  “Unfortunately my attempts to gain explanations for a long history of serious misinformation from both officers and Members which stretches back over 10 years have proved equally unsuccessful. Reviewing my correspondence, starting in March 2012, there is a pattern of misinformation provided to the Council by senior Members and officers who had specific knowledge and responsibilities for the subject, but nevertheless were able to come up with numerous “facts” which turned out to be totally false and often utterly ludicrous.”

Cllr King stated, “Having received advice from colleagues who are leading lawyers locally and in London, I believe the Council to be acting unlawfully by proceeding in the way it is. It is my view that it exposes the Council to significant and unnecessary risk. You may perhaps be aware that I have a national and international reputation for being proved right in these matters.”

Wrexham Council have rejected the claims at the most senior level.

We asked the council if any legal advice had been shared with them, and asked if there would be an investigation to the apparently serious allegations.

In a joint statement Ian Bancroft, Chief Executive, Linda Roberts, Monitoring and Richard Weigh, Chief Finance Officer, said, “Cllr King has raised over the past two years a number of questions about the legality of the decision making process and the debate that took place at a Council meeting about the issue. Assurance has been provided on the legality of the decision making process and the reasonableness of the debate in Council.”

“No legal information has been received by the Council in relation to this matter.”

“The Council will follow due process in considering how it addresses these allegations.”

All councillors were made aware of that position and information, along with a note to tell them to surface criticism and allegations via the senior officers rather than via Wrexham.com or the all-councillor email system.

The issue appears to be rumbling on with Cllr King sharing more correspondence from two weeks ago to all councillors, with an cover email that explains his position, “My letter sets out in summary the struggle I have had since the special Council meeting last year on 23rd June in response to Plaid Cymru’s motion to delay demolition in order to explore alternatives. That motion was defeated, but it is my contention that the only concrete evidence provided by the Council in support of rejecting the motion appears to have been entirely false.”

“Reviewing my trail of emails, probably at least a hundred, over the last 10 years, it is a depressing tale of inaccurate and misleading reports and spurious claims, some of which have been utterly absurd.”

Cllr King appears to widen out his commentary from Centre 67 / the old Vicarage building in Rhosddu, “If the Old Vicarage is demolished needlessly it would be a real shame in my view. Of far, far greater importance however is the integrity of the Council and the responsibility that we all have to uphold it. If we don’t, who will?”

“Having led many public bodies, locally, regionally and nationally, over the last 40 years, it has been my mis-fortune to uncover much wrong-doing, sometimes with very far reaching consequences. Including when I was the Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Finance. Much of which is still to be disclosed.”

No details of what the the ‘wrong doing’ entails was provided, however he added “I will share with Members additional evidence in the coming days”.