William Hobhouse to apologise to Council!

10.47.49am GMT Wed 2nd Nov 2005

Cllr. William Hobhouse admits mistake!

Following a meeting of Rochdale Council's Standard's Committee - Bamford Councillor William Hobhouse has agreed to apologise following a mistake he made after only 5 months as a Councillor. William made the mistake of visiting a Constituent to discuss a Planning Application whilst a Member of the Planning Committee.

Cllr. Hobhouse said, Last November when I had been a councillor for only 5 months I visited a resident and discussed his planning application. Had I not been a member of the planning committee this would have been a perfectly normal thing for a councillor to do. However, as I was on the Planning Committee, I broke the Planning Code of Conduct, and therefore the Council Code of Conduct. I realise my mistake and I have apologised to the Standards Committee. Unfortunately I did not have the benefit of any advice from my former Conservative colleagues at the time."

Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group - Cllr. Alan Taylor said, "I know that William has acknowledged his mistake and will learn from it - I hope that the Conservative Party will also learn from it. He was a Member of the Conservative Party at the time and it is apparent that there was no support and training from them. I know that they are only a small group and that was maybe the reason why they were not able to offer the experience to advise their new Councillors - it wouldn't have happened if he was a Member of the Lib Dems at the time. William Hobhouse is a great asset to the Liberal Democrat Group and I know he will continue to represent the people of Bamford with the same vigour he has always done."

Paul Rowen MP - was Leader of the Council at the time - he said, "William has had a minor slap on the wrists - I wrote to the Leader of the Conservative Group at the time. I warned him that the Hobhouses needed taking under the wing of some of their more experienced Councillors. That clearly did not happen - the Conservative Group are as much to blame in this case. To put this case into perspective - it was a year ago and since they have benefited from months of unity and training from the biggest group on the Council. William and Wera are outstanding community workers and are really making a difference to the communities of Norden and Bamford."