Council in job blunder

Feb 23 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

A FORMER councillor has lost his new job with the same local authority after embarrassed town hall chiefs were forced to admit they should never have employed him in the first place.

Gareth Davies – a former Labour member of Blyth Valley Borough Council – has been removed from his post as the council’s scrutiny officer after the employment blunder was discovered.

His appointment was found to be in breach of a rule which says elected councillors cannot be given paid employment by the same authority within 12 months of resigning or losing their seats.

Town hall bosses have finally admitted their mistake several months after an opposition independent councillor questioned the legality of putting Mr Davies on the payroll. Yesterday they said Mr Davies was “without doubt the innocent party” in the affair – and revealed they have apologised to him for failing to realise his appointment was against the rules.

Mr Davies served as a Labour councillor for the Cramlington Village ward on the borough council until losing his seat in last May’s elections.

He later applied for the post of scrutiny officer with the council – after seeking advice from senior councillors and officials that it was within the rules to do so – and was given the job last September.

His appointment was immediately questioned by independent members led by Blyth Plessey councillor Colin Brown, who had been angered by criticism of him by Mr Davies on his internet blog site while he was a councillor. Coun Brown made a formal complaint about the appointment, but says he was assured that it was above board and allowable under local government rules.

Now, following further investigations, the council has admitted it got it wrong and has been forced to terminate Mr Davies’s employment. Under the rules, he will be able to re-apply for his previous post with Blyth Valley in May, if it remains vacant until then.

Yesterday Mr Davies, who was the council’s cabinet portfolio holder for streetcare services and a member of the Cramlington Community Assembly while a councillor, declined to comment.

Borough council Labour leader Dave Stephens said: “Gareth Davies has been an exemplary employee and a model professional. The service he has put in for Blyth Valley has been tremendous. What has happened was nothing to do with him and was a council mistake, which we have to hold our hands up for.

“It is a very sad situation and, personally, I think it is horrendous. He sought advice before even applying for the job and was told it was OK.”

Coun Brown said: “I complained about Gareth Davies’s appointment as scrutiny officer from an early date. I was assured that his employment was above board but knew in my own mind that councillors could not be employed by the same authority within 12 months. I feel that I was ignored and fobbed off. I am not really pleased that his employment has now been terminated, because I don’t like to see anyone put out of work, but I am satisfied that I have been proved right.”