Mystery over who called councillor a “f**king idiot” during planning meeting

Wrexham Council has launched an investigation after a councillor was sworn at during a virtual meeting earlier this month.

Llay councillor Bryan Apsley was speaking in favour of an application to create a farm shop in the village he represents at a planning committee meeting on July 5th, when the outburst was made.

Shortly after he suggested the proposals would improve the character of a field off the Straight Mile, a man’s voice can be heard calling him a “f***ing idiot”.

The identity of the person attending the online meeting cannot be confirmed as they were off screen at the time but they appear to have forgotten that their microphone was switched on.

Cllr Apsley said he was unaware of the remarks during the meeting but was left shocked after he was later informed by another attendee.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I was taken aback and am currently considering what to do about it.”

During the meeting, councillors voted to approve the farm shop proposals, which were put forward by the owners of Rackery Farm, a 100-acre dairy farm located in nearby Burton.

The move came despite planning officer David Williams warning them it would be “one of the worst decisions that this authority will make” if they granted permission because of concerns about the location.

The local authority has confirmed it is carrying out inquiries into the comments towards Cllr Apsley.

A council spokesperson said: “We have not previously been made aware of any issues but will look into it.”

Wrexham.com has previously requested access to the raw Zoom meeting links as was possible earlier in the pandemic, which allows full view of who is attending / live mics in meeting – however was told that is no longer possible.

As a result Wrexham.com was watching this meeting via the normal public webcasting stream where the above video was clipped from.

David Williams, the planning officer, announced his resignation a few days after the meeting took place.

By Liam Randall – BBC Local Democracy Reporter / Wrexham.com