Two councillors - including the leader of the Conservatives - have been found to have committed ‘serious’ breaches, including bullying, discrimination, and harassment.

West Suffolk Cllrs Nick Clarke and Andy Drummond were found to have breached six codes each of the councillors' code of conduct. 

Nick Clarke was found to have breached six codes.Nick Clarke was found to have breached six codes. (Image: Joao Santos, LDRS)

These included codes of bullying, disclosing confidential information, using their positions to the advantage or disadvantage of themselves or anyone else, and bringing their role or local authority into disrepute.

The chairman of West Suffolk’s standards committee, Cllr Roger Dicker made the announcement at last night's full council meeting. 

Cllr Clarke, the leader of Conservative Group, has been replaced by Cllr Beccy Hopfensperger following the breaches and removed from his other roles.

He also broke rules to do with harassment and treating other councillors and members of the public with respect.

When asked to apologise to the council, Cllr Clarke maintained he had nothing to say.

The council’s leader, Cliff Waterman, called the announcement very sad and disappointing.

He added: “My advice to [Cllr Nick Clarke] would’ve been to apologise and move on, but he has made the situation worse.

We expect the very highest standards from all our councillors, our residents elect us and they expect us to behave well.

“We have seen over recent years a deterioration in the behaviour of some elected representatives in public life.”

Andy Drummond was sanctioned over the breaches.Andy Drummond was sanctioned over the breaches. (Image: Joao Santos, LDRS)

Cllr Drummond broke codes to do with respect for volunteers and employees of the council or other partner organisations, and discrimination unlawfully against a person.

Sanctions imposed on him by the committee included that he should apologise to the council, that a statement about his conduct should be released to the media, and that he should write a letter of apology to each of the complainants.

Cllr Drummond was also removed from his seat on the officer appointments and development control committees, as well as from the Local Plan working group for the remainder of the current administration.

When prompted to apologise, Cllr Drummond said: “Obviously, I would like to apologise to the council, I can’t go into the detail of exactly what happened.”
His speech was cut short so as not to reveal any private information.