Agenda and decisions

Having decided to conduct the hearing in public session the Panel unanimously agreed that, for the reasons set out in the Investigators report regarding four complaints received from members of the public about emailed responses they had received from Mr Whitford, sent from his County Council email account, after they raised concerns about the hanging of St George’s flags on County Council lampposts in Markfield, Mr C. Whitford CC had breached the following paragraphs of the Members' Code of Conduct:

• 2.3.1 -to treat members of the public with respect
• 2.7.1 and 2.7.2 - to not bully or harass any person
• 2.7.2 - to promote equalities and not discriminate unlawfully against any person
• 2.16 - not bring the role of councillor or the Council into disrepute

Having made the above decision, the Panel decided unanimously to impose the following sanctions:

(i)               That Mr Whitford be formally censured for the matters set out in the investigation report which the Panel regarded as unacceptable behaviour by a Councillor towards members of the public;

(ii)              That the Monitoring Officer write a formal letter to Mr Whitford setting out the decision of the Panel, the sanctions it has imposed, and its disappointment at having to make the decision that the Code of Conduct has been breached. A copy of this letter to be published on the Council’s website and displayed on the Member Conduct webpage for a period of up to six months;

(iii)            That Mr Whitford issue a public apology to be read out by the Chairman at the full Council meeting to be held on 13^th May 2026, the wording of which has been agreed by the Panel and reflects the apology already made by Mr Whitford to the four complainants and set out at paragraph 4.34 of the Investigation report, such apology to be published on the Council’s Member Conduct website alongside the formal letter from the Monitoring Officer referred to in (ii) above;

(iv)            That the Council consider the training and support of newly elected members to make sure they are adequately prepared and supported in their role, particularly those appointed to the Cabinet;

The Panel found that whilst Mr Whitford had technically breached paragraph 2.30 of the Code by failing to register an interest in a company, in line with the Investigation Report’s recommendation no further action be taken on this aspect.

The public may be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business in accordance with Section 100(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph (1) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

-         Exempt Appendix C(1) to agenda item 3

The full Investigation Report is included as an exempt appendix at this stage because it contains detailed information relating to individuals and other sensitive material.  A public summary of the report is included in the public part of the Agenda and the Panel will take a decision on publication of the full Report as part of the hearing process, in accordance with the Authority’s arrangements.