A COUNCILLOR has been suspended for six months for bringing his office into disrepute by bullying a council officer, making comments in the press and seeking secure a personal advantage for himself or others concerning planning permissions.
At a Determination hearing of the Local Standards Committee Castle Point Borough Council Councillor Bill Sharp (pictured) was suspended from Office as a councillor for six months.
This means he cannot represent in any way the residents of St.James' Ward or the residents of the Borough as their elected representative during the period of his suspension.
The Sub-Committee found that Cllr Sharp by his general conduct had brought his office as a Councillor into disrepute and substantiated five other breaches of the Code of Conduct as follows:
n Cllr Sharp had made comments to the media and others showing a clear lack of respect to Mr Ian Burchill, a senior Council Manager
n Cllr Sharp had carried out a campaign of bullying Mr Ian Burchill
n Cllr Sharp intimidated Mr Ian Burchill by calling for his removal from the planning service on various occasions
n Cllr Sharp had sought to secure a personal advantage for himself or others concerning planning permissions
n Cllr Sharp had failed to follow advice from the Monitoring Officer David Marchant, Chief Executive of Castle Point Council commented after the hearing: "These were serious allegations against an experienced Councillor involving a range of unacceptable behaviour. The Local Standards Committee has ordered that the Councillor be suspended for six months. The Council will not be diverted from our important work to provide high quality services to residents by examples of bad behaviour."
If residents have enquiries, queries or problems and need assistance from Councillors , residents are asked to contact either of the two other ward councillors for the St.James Ward, Cllr Godfrey Isaacs or Cllr Norman Ladzrie.
During the period of his suspension Mr Sharp will make arrangements to transfer any current cases to his colleague Ward councillors.