Conduct committee reject findings of report into mayor’s behaviour

Wychavon District Council’s Member Conduct Committee has officially rejected recommendations made in a report looking into the behaviour of Pershore town councillor Matthew Winfield.

The report, conducted by Wychavon’s monitoring officer, concluded he had breached the town council’s code of conduct with regard to bullying and intimidation.

At an extraordinary town council meeting on Wednesday (April 12), a majority of nine to three councillors voted in favour of the report’s conclusion and its recommendation that he write a formal apology to the complainant.

The Mayor of Pershore councillor Matthew Winfield (Image: NQ)

The case was then sent to the district council and a special hearing of the Member Conduct Committee was held on Monday (April 17).

The cross-party committee, consisting of four Conservative councillors and one Liberal Democrat, unanimously agreed to reject the report’s recommendation that councillor Winfield had breached the code.

Meesha Patel, director of legal and governance and monitoring officer for Wychavon District Council, said: “A meeting of the Member Conduct Committee was held to consider the complaint against Cllr Winfield.

“Members of the committee recognised the quality of the investigation that had been carried out and praised the report presented to them.

“After careful consideration of all the evidence, the committee unanimously rejected the report’s recommendation that Cllr Winfield had breached the Pershore Town Council Code of Conduct.”

READ MORE: Mayor of Pershore cleared of bullying allegations

Reacting to this decision, councillor Winfield said: “I'm very pleased with the unanimous decision of the cross-party Member Conduct Committee who have found that I was not in breach of the Code of Conduct.

“I am not a bully, and I have never sought to intimidate anyone.

“I love Pershore and have tried to serve it to the best of my ability, but I have found that virtually impossible as a consequence of this horrendous ordeal, which is finally over after ten, long months.”

READ AGAIN: Town’s mayor accused of 'bullying and intimidation'

The report centred around a complaint made by the recently retired town clerk, Ann Dobbins, following an alleged incident on July 15 last year.

Mrs Dobbins claimed councillor Winfield became “quite intimidating” after asking for a folder which she said had not been agreed by the management group.