| Topic: | Porky Pies | |
| Posted by: | Vanessa Smith | |
| Date/Time: | 17/05/23 09:48:00 |
| Brentford TV Admin · 2 h · "WHY DID YOU MISLEAD FELLOW COUNCILLORS?" Even as he was being re-elected chair of Scrutiny this week, Cllr Sayyar Raza was facing a challenge to his fundamental qualification for that important Council role – his impartiality. 'A response to a Freedom of Information request has shown that Councillor Sayyar Raza, the Labour chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, misled fellow councillors over the number of emails he had received in support of controversial proposals to make parts of the Grove Park traffic schemes permanent.' – statement from Cllr Jack Emsley, Conservative. 'Councillor Raza had claimed to have received “hundreds of emails saying how good the LTN scheme is,” however a Freedom of Information request has revealed he received just 75 emails on the topic. Of those emails, 74 were copied to other committee members, who have disclosed that 2 were in favour of the proposal to make the schemes permanent, 71 were against and 1 was unclear. 'During the meeting, councillors decided to back proposals to make restrictions on Burlington Lane and Staveley Road permanent following a lengthy discussion. Councillor Raza’s intervention about levels of support for the scheme formed a key part of the discussion, and opposition councillors claim the revelation that he misled the committee about levels of support calls the decision-making process into question.' Cllr Emsley said: “The Overview and Scrutiny Committee prides itself on impartiality, so for the chair of that committee to mislead fellow councillors in order to push through Labour Party policy is as disappointing as it is serious,” said Jack Emsley, Conservative Councillor for Chiswick Homefields. “Councillor Raza’s intervention formed a key moment in the discussion about these schemes, and so the revelation that Hounslow Labour’s traffic schemes had not received the levels of support that he claimed calls the decision-making process into question. We now need to understand what the motivation for misleading the committee was, and what action the council will take to ensure the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s impartiality is not compromised by its chairperson.” The statement continues: 'The Hounslow councillor code of conduct calls on elected members to “act with integrity and honesty,” and that they should “lead by example and act in a way that secured public confidence in the role of councillor.” Councillors are also asked to abide by the seven Nolan principles of public life, which includes a commitment for public office holders to be “truthful” and to “act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence.” Chiswick councillors have spoken to the council’s Monitoring Officer about this potential breach of the members code of conduct. Despite the revelation that he misled the Overview and Scrutiny committee, Councillor Raza was re-elected as chair of the committee by Labour councillors at Monday night’s Hounslow Labour group Annual General Meeting.' |