Standards Committee Lumbers Into 'Action'

So that was the General Election that was. While the horse trading goes on I'll get back to some normal business.

Looks like there may be some movement in the cases against councillors accused of breaking the code of conduct.

The Standards Committee is meeting on 17 May and is due to appoint a hearing sub-committee. As far as I can tell this is the body who will actually decide on the complaint.

The report on this move mentions a 'self-referral' to the committee and so, although no-one is named, we can conclude that this one concerns Cllr Grocock who was named as the next Lord Mayor just the other day.

There's no indication as to when this sub-committee will actually meet to hear the case but it looks like it will be in good time for any fall-out to blow over in time for the next elections. And my guess is that will be 'what do you mean he hasn't breached the code of conduct, did you read the Audit Commission's report?' type fall-out rather than 'Grocock resigns as Lord Mayor in disgrace' type fall-out.

They also appear to be appointing 'assessment and review' sub-committees which are the 'are we going to even bother looking at this?' stage of proceedings but they don't mention who those are about. According to the minutes of the last meeting they appointed one of these then so presumably that means all three cases are finally on the go.

Don't hold your breath...