Brightlingsea Town Council (BTC) has brought in a raft of major changes to the way it operates following a hard-hitting report into its governance and the behaviour of councillors.

Commissioned following allegations of bullying and a lack of respect between councillors, the 19-page report (which can be read by clicking here)  found that the working atmosphere in the council had become “more toxic” since 2019 with a “high level of animosity between certain councillors which goes beyond mere differences of opinion”.

But BTC said that the language in sections of the report relating to councillor behaviour was “unhelpful and occasionally sensationalist” with a “degree of patronising content”.

It said that many of the improvements recommended in the report had already been instigated prior to its publication and mayor Mick Barry told Brightlingsea Info that it bore “no relation to the current working arrangements and atmosphere on the council”.

The report said there was a breakdown in working relationships between a number of councillors, “characterised by mistrust, suspicion, disrespectful behaviour and a limited ability to have any constructive dialogue at some meetings”.

One councillor resigned in April 2021 after feeling bullied and others were left wondering whether to continue in a deteriorating atmosphere, said the report. Staff were said to be “caught in the crossfire” of mutual distrust between various members, with legitimate disagreements descending into “sniping, nitpicking and bickering”, some of which took place in “persistent correspondence and on social media”.

“The majority of individuals we spoke to felt very strongly that meetings were difficult and the tone of debate, at meetings, in correspondence and on social media reflected very badly on the council,” said the report. “We think some councillors would be surprised at how they came across and how meetings were conducted if they could observe themselves.”

The report – which cost just under £6,000 – was carried out by external consultants on behalf of Tendring District Council (TDC), whose monitoring officer oversees parish and town council governance in the district. The views of councillors were obtained between November 2021 and January 2022 via confidential questionnaires and individual interviews.

All councillors spoken to were said to have had “the best interests of Brightlingsea at heart”, but needed to recognise that decisions with which they disagreed were “automatically wrong of the motives behind it suspect’.

Although prompted by complaints of misconduct, TDC asked the consultants to look more widely at the operation of the council to help it “move forward more constructively”. As a result it found other key issues included:

• A lack of understanding of the roles and responsibilities of councillors and the town clerk. While the clerk was said to have “effective” skills and attributes for the role, staff performance management was lacking and there was a view that some members spent too much time in the council offices “stopping higher priority work being done”;
• Confusion about the roles of councillors with special responsibilities and their roles in decision making. Members were “left free to pursue certain projects without a wider context” and some “pursued hobby horses rather than simply ensuring agreed council policy was carried out”;
• Weaknesses in some aspects of council governance, particularly over the way decisions were delegated and staff were managed;
• Financial systems need to be reviewed following concerns about how spending decisions were made and how the budget was managed;
• A lack of long-term strategy for the council. “…confusion over roles and in-fighting has meant that the council has no real sense of long-term purpose. We saw no evidence beyond very broad statements of desire of what the purpose of the council was other than a mechanism for running projects. None of this constituted a measured or costed action plan to improve the town”;

BTC  was keen to point out that the report assessed a period of about 18 months to early 2021 and said that during that time “a significant change of  operational culture” had been brought in because of lockdown regulations, which meant there were no face-to-face meetings. “We are disappointed that no acknowledgement was made for this unprecedented and extraordinary change in circumstances,” it said.

The council said that the consultants didn’t attend a meeting to see conduct at first hand, and claimed that the four councillors who were co-opted in May 2021 “felt respected and able to speak and contribute to council business”.

It also disputed that there was no evidence of long-term strategy, pointing to work carried out on the hard, Lido, skatepark , communications, playgrounds and other areas, including developing a neighbourhood plan. “The consultants did not ask for evidence of current strategies or documentation,” it said, claiming that the report’s expectation of 5-10 year strategies was “unrealistic” when councillors had a four year term of office and budgets were limited.

“Overall the council feels that the current working atmosphere and operating culture is positive and productive and bears no relation to that portrayed in the report,” said BTC, adding: “For the record the council has clear protocols and standing orders that govern conduct and believes that generally these have been upheld.”

However, the council said it accepted the 19 recommendations in the report and, accordingly, had made or will make changes to its structure and operations, including:

• Placing councillors in four teams – Facilities and Community Assets; Environment and Transport; Welfare and Residents’ Services; Communications and Tourism – rather than having members with special responsibilities;
• Reviewing councillor training and staff appraisal;
• Bringing in a ‘diary’ system so that councillors are required to book appointments with office staff;
• Developing a long-term strategy, helped by increasing the administrative assistant’s hours and employing a development officer;
• Ensuring that councillors abide by standing orders covering disorderly conduct, language used at meetings and improving procedures regarding disputes;
• Ensuring that all councillors adhere to the council’s established social media policy;
• Developing a fully costed long-term plan for the town and council after the next elections in May 2023;
• Commissioning professional help to develop more functional working teams;
• Developing a community engagement strategy to promote more involvment in council affairs and encourage more residents to consider becoming councillors/

The report recommended that BTC’s implentation plan should be shared with TDC’s monitoring officer within six weeks of publication, with progress reported after six and 12 months.

• The minutes of a council meeting on May 5, at which members discussed the report without the public present, can be found here. The document includes the council’s response to the report.