Published: 11/03/2010 07:01 -
Updated: 10/03/2010 19:24
Sorry seems to be the hardest word for Central Bedfordshire Council deputy leader Richard Stay.
Cllr Stay, of Manor Road, Woodside, has refused to apologise to next door neighbour James Thakoordin after being told to do so more than four months ago.
Conservative Cllr Stay was ordered by the council’s standards board to say sorry after a complaint by Cllr Thakoordin against Cllr Stay’s alleged behaviour towards him and his wife Doreen, who is also a councillor.
Cllr Thakoordin said: “He refused to apologise to us as instructed by Central Bedfordshire standards committee by November 25, 2009.
“I have been advised to make a further complaint to the Standards Board against Cllr Stay.”
Central Beds spokesman Mark Hustwitt said: “The standards sub-committee considered the complaint and decided against an investigation, instead referring to the Monitoring Officer for other action, which was to seek an apology from Cllr Stay to Cllr Thakoordin.”
But Cllr Stay has refused to apologise, saying: “It is quite clear that the standards board did not feel that it needed to investigate. How can I apologise for something I haven’t done? It just seems perverse to me. What is it I should be apologising for?”
Cllr Thakoordin, who has been a councillor for ten years, has been asked to resign from Caddington Parish Council but he is refusing to do so, as we reported last month.
The chairman of Central Beds’ standards board attended last week’s parish meeting. Mr Hustwitt added: “[He] attended in the public gallery just to visit. Nothing more than this. He had no official involvement there.”
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