Minor dissembling in Saltdean misconduct hearing

Someone overheard Cllr Hyde saying that Committee members are “only in it for themselves.” The Committee said that that denigrates it. Cllr Hyde said that the complaint was politically motivated.

It is not the first time that the motives of the SCA have been impugned in this way. There is considerable tension between the members of Save Saltdean Lido (SSL) and Saltdean Community Association and had on two occasions SSL accused SCA committee members of “being in it for themselves” which had resulted in SCA threatening legal action against the person who had made that remark. The SCA have had a bruising fight already with their landlord harassing the SCA with three court cases and a specific threat of personal bankruptcy against the Chair of the Executive Committee.

With that background, the SCA have been at pains to point out that the complaint against Cllr Hyde was not politically motivated, despite her comments that it is “pivotal to the complaint.”

The SCA said “No member of the SCA committee has stood against Cllr Hyde and her ward colleagues in any local election.”

Nevertheless, two members of the Executive Committee have stood for election as Lib-Dem candidates in other wards: indeed, Liz Lee was for several years a member on Lewes District Council in East Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffes Ward and has continued unsuccessfully to contest that ward in 2007 and 2011. And Lib Dem Simon Doyle stood at the by-election in Regency Ward in 2007.

Cllr Hyde said that that comment had been taken out of context and the full circumstances were that in a private conversation in a fractious meeting, during which ward councillors were told by the SCA committee to leave, Councillor Mears said as they left “we are all supposed to be serving the community” and Cllr Hyde replied to Mary “absolutely correct, residents have said to me they are in it for themselves”.

Cllr Hyde had already offered a qualified apology within two days of the incident to one member of SCA but the SCA felt unable to accept that as it was only the prospect of a Standards Committee Investigation that the further apology had been offered.

The Assessment Panel of the Standards Committee considered the complaint on 26 June 2012 and decided that it was worth investigation further. This produced an officer report that concluded, on balance, the allegation of “disrespect” was not proven and that there had not been a breach of the Code of Conduct for Members.

The Standards Panel itself will have to either accept that report or, if not, to decide that Cllr Hyde had indeed been so disrespectful to the SCA that she should be sanctioned in some way.

The cost of the investigation and hearing has yet to be quantified. No fee has to be paid by any complainant to bring a complaint before the Standards Panel.

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