Failure to declare interests row
ALLEGATIONS of his failure to declare his interests have landed an Ipswich councillor in hot water.Conservative member of Ipswich Borough Council Gordon Terry, has been reported to a standards watchdog after he failed to declare an interest at a planning debate.
ALLEGATIONS of his failure to declare his interests have landed an Ipswich councillor in hot water.
Conservative member of Ipswich Borough Council Gordon Terry, has been reported to a standards watchdog after he failed to declare an interest at a planning debate.
The Tory councillor is accused of attending a meeting to discuss the local town plan without declaring a prejudicial interest.
Mr Terry, who is also a planning consultant, denies he has done anything wrong and has criticised the complainant and the council for not having the courtesy to let him know that a complaint had been made against him to the Standards Board. He claims the first he knew about the allegation was when the media contacted him about it.
Mr Terry today welcomed the decision to go before the board and said he is confident that he will be vindicated.
He said: "Councillors complaining to the newly instituted standards board for England about fellow councillors is an increasingly popular national sport. I understand most complaints are rejected as trivial, as I believe the complaint against me will be.
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"However, I welcome the chance to appear before the standards board in order to explain and give maximum publicity to labour's policies towards our county town's future. I believe there is a hidden agenda on transport which will cause untold harm to the economic future of Ipswich and ruin chances of improved prosperity and quality of life for our people.
"I further believe this complaint may be a crude attempt by my political opponents to gag me and thus keep labour's real intentions secret."
Mr Terry says he is now preparing his own complaint to the standards board about a number of councillors and officers of Ipswich Borough Council.
He added: "It will be most interesting to see at the end of the day who is right and who is wrong."
Since the Standards Board was set up in November last year it has received 1,400 complaints - with half them already rejected.
A spokeswoman for Ipswich Borough Council said: "We can confirm that the matter has been forwarded to the standards board and the council has no further comment at this time."
www.standardsboard.co.uk
