COMPLAINT FORM FOR ALLEDGED BREACHES OF
THE MEMBER CODE OF CONDUCT
Introduction
In accordance with the Localism Act 2011 the council is required to have
Arrangements for dealing with Standards Allegations against breaches of the
Members Code of Conduct by an elected member. Please note these Arrangements
only apply when the person is acting as an elected member.
Note that elected member means councillor.
The Members Code of Conduct adopted by Southwark Council can be accessed via
the following link - Members Code of Conduct.
The council’s Arrangements for dealing with Standards Allegations under the
Localism Act 2011 can be accessed here - Arrangements for dealing with standards
allegations
If you require a paper copy of either document please contact Norman Coombe or
Tom Crisp using the details below.
Please fill in this form and return it to the monitoring officer whose address is given at
the end of the form.
Your details
Please provide us with your name and contact details
Title:
Ms
First Name:
Blanche
Last name:
Cameron
Address:
7 Dartmouth Grove London SE10 8AR
Daytime telephone:
07731 304 966
Evening telephone:
07731 304 966
Mobile telephone:
07731 304 966
Email address:
[email protected]
Your address and contact details will not usually be released unless necessary or to
deal with your complaint.
However, we will tell the following people that you have made this complaint:
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The member(s) you are complaining about.
The council’s independent person.
We will tell them your name and give them a summary of your complaint. We will
give them full details of your complaint where necessary or appropriate to be able to
deal with it. If you have serious concerns about your name and a summary, or
details of your complaint being released, please complete the section below
requesting that your identity is kept confidential..
Please tell us which complainant type best describes you:
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Member of the public
An elected or co-opted member of an authority
Member of Parliament
Local authority monitoring officer
Other council officer or authority employee
Other: Chair of the Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries
Making your complaint
You can make your complaint by completing the details below.
Please provide us with the name of the member(s) you believe have breached
the Code of Conduct.
Title
First name
Last name
Cllr
Barrie
Hargrove
Please explain in the box below (or on separate sheets) what the member has done
that you believe breaches the Code of Conduct. It is important that you identify which
part(s) of the Code you believe have been breached. If you are complaining about
more than one member you should clearly explain what each individual person has
done that you believe breaches the Code of Conduct.
It is important that you provide all the information you wish to have taken into
account by the Monitoring Officer when they decide whether to take any
action on your complaint. For example:
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You should be specific, wherever possible, about exactly what you
are alleging the member said or did. For instance, instead of
writing that the member insulted you, you should state what it was
they said.
You should provide the details of the alleged incidents wherever
possible. If you cannot provide exact dates it is important to give a
general timeframe.
You should confirm whether there are any witnesses to the alleged
conduct and provide their names and contact details if possible.
You should provide any relevant background information.
Please provide us with the details of your complaint. Continue on a separate sheet if
there is not enough space on this form.
Formal complaint against Councillor Barrie Hargrove
The incident took place on 29th June 2016, at the Nunhead & Peckham Community
Council at St Mary’s Church, St Mary’s Road Nunhead, in front of the other Ward
Councillors, Chair Cllr Chopra and around 60 Southwark residents and members of
the public.
Cllr Barrie Hargrove responded with contempt to an extremely courteous, expert and
detailed presentation by Eileen Conn, Peckham Planning Network (PPN) and
Peckham Vision, in which she and other members made suggestions to improve
Peckham planning processes, requesting more information to be made available to
the public on planning matters, more genuine community engagement, proper public
consultation and a more accessible planning application process, such as requiring
developers to produce 3D drawings or images of projects so that they are more easily
understood by the general public.
Cllr Barrie Hargrove responded to Eileen Conn’s expert presentation with
contempt:
“So, are there any planning applications that you have ever agreed with??”
Cllr Barrie Hargrove is in public office. He made this pointed and insulting remark to
Southwark resident Eileen Conn, a recognised planning expert who has worked for
over a decade to improve planning processes in Peckham.
Eileen Conn was clearly shocked. After further questions, Cllr Michael Situ thanked
her for all her valuable work on planning processes and how useful it had been to the
Council and to Peckham communities.
This highlighted further Cllr Barrie Hargrove’s own shameful, arrogant and ignorant
response to an expert resident‘s respectful and learned presentation and request for
mutual co-operation.
Cllr Barrie Hargrove’s response and conduct appear to constitute a very clear breach
of Southwark Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct under the following statutory
principles of the Code:
Statutory Principle 2: Dealing with representations or enquiries from residents,
members of our communities and visitors fairly, appropriately and impartially.
Cllr Hargrove did not treat Ms Conn’s representation fairly, appropriately or impartially
– he was insulting, contemptuous, disdainful and disrespectful.
Statutory Principle 10. Always treating people with respect, including the
organisations and public I engage with and those I work alongside.
Cllr Hargrove did not treat Ms Conn with respect – he treated her with contempt,
disdain and disrespect.
This behaviour from Cllr Barrie Hargrove clearly breaches the Nolan Committee’s
Standards in Public Life that Southwark Council is committed to and that this Code of
Conduct is based on.
I wish Cllr Hargrove’s misconduct to be investigated and dealt with swiftly as possible.
Other witnesses to this breach of the Code of Conduct by Cllr Barrie Hargrove are
Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries members Lewis Schaffer and Abby Taubin, and
Rose Ives of local group Respect Our Ancestors.
Sincerely,
Blanche Cameron
Chair, Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries
Only complete this next section if you are requesting that your identity
is kept confidential
In the interests of fairness and natural justice, we believe members who are
complained about have a right to know who has made the complaint. We also
believe they have a right to be provided with a summary of the complaint. We are
unlikely to withhold your identity or the details of your complaint unless you have
good reason to believe that for example you maybe subject to victimisation or
harassment.
Please note that requests for confidentiality or requests for suppression of
complaint details will not automatically be granted. The monitoring officer will
consider the request alongside the substance of your complaint. We will then
contact you with the decision. If your request for confidentiality is not granted,
we will usually allow you the option of withdrawing your complaint. Please
note the decision of the monitoring officer is final.
However, it is important to understand that in certain exceptional
circumstances where the matter complained about is very serious, we can
proceed with an investigation or other action and disclose your name even if
you have expressly asked us not to.
Please provide us with details of why you believe we should withhold your
name and/or the details of your complaint:
Additional Help
Complaints must be submitted in writing.
This includes fax and electronic
submissions. However, in line with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination
Act 2000, we can make reasonable adjustments to assist you if you have a disability
that prevents you from making your complaint in writing.
If you need any support in completing this form, please let us know as soon as
possible.
What Happens Next?
1. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 workings days of receipt.
2. The Monitoring Officer will assess your complaint and decide what further action
to take.
The Council’s Monitoring Officer is:
Doreen Forrester-Brown
Southwark Council
2nd Floor
PO Box 64529
London
SE1P 5LX
E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: 020 8043 4337
PLEASE MARK ALL CORRESPONDENCE SENT TO THE MONITORING
OFFICER PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
If you have any questions about this form or the complaints process in general then
please contact:
Norman Coombe Head of Corporate Team – Legal Services via his e-mail
[email protected] or on 020 7525 7678; or
Tom Crisp Senior Lawyer (Governance) – Legal Services via his e-mail
[email protected] or on 020 7525 5113