Councillor Barrie Durkin Aber Falls Tavern. Abergwyngregyn. Llanfairfechan LL33 OLD Carl Sargeant AC/DC Minister for Social Justice and Local Government. Dear Minister. Thank you for your letter dated 30 th June 2010. As you quite rightly say, it is right that political structure and allegiances should be a matter for ourselves and that the Recovery Board should continue to have a strong interest in any developments. However, I must take issue with your comment, “Decisive action has been taken against some councillors who continued to misbehave”. From the Terms of Engagement of the new Alliance this statement is obviously aimed at myself. In the context of your letter, you would appear to support such action. I take great exception to this, in my opinion it only goes to show the diet of propaganda you have been fed. I am only too sorry you did not seek substantiation of the Council’s claims against me prior to writing your letter. Prior to being elected as Councillor for the Llanbedregoch ward in 2008, I was active, along with others in exposing dishonesty and wrongdoing within the County Council particularly in the area of Planning which at the time was rampant as evidenced by issues of wrongdoing I exposed subsequently being admitted to and made public. Following my election to the Council I worked very closely with Cllr McGregor to help address the widespread public perception of corruption within the Council. Our efforts in this direction were met an increasing degree of success. When Mr Bowles was appointed, he initially congratulated me for exposing officers involved in wrongdoing. Indeed Cllr McGregor always encouraged me to root- out dishonesty. However, shortly after Mr Bowles’ appointment, both he and Cllr McGregor did a complete volte-face instructing me to forget about any issues relating to past conduct, effectively granting an amnesty to all officers and councillors guilty of historical wrongdoing. When I refused to acquiesce to this instruction both Mr Bowles and Cllr McGregor embarked on what can only be described as a witch-hunt which has made my life, and that of my family’s, a living hell. They have both made total unfounded allegations in public about me; my Solicitors have formally cautioned both about their conduct. They have both recently formulated the new Alliance’s “Terms of Engagement”, sections of which, in the opinion of my barrister make serious and indefensible breaches of my Human Rights, exacerbated by the Council’s decision to make the document available to the public. Within the “Terms of Engagement” there are, as I am sure you are aware, several sections, which are actionable in a court of law. Along with many other Councillors, I have requested, on a number of occasions for that issue to be put right; this has been constantly refused and, as a result, I am now at the point of seeking legal redress through the courts. This is of course a last resort but if the issue is not resolved, and resolved very quickly, I will have no choice but to proceed no matter the cost. For the avoidance of doubt, the only thing preventing Members unifying behind the new Alliance is the unlawful sections within the “Terms of Engagement”. The simple answer is to omit the offending items. Then, and only then will I consider whether I need to take legal action against, not only the council but against all who have acquiesced in such deplorable behaviour. As with your letter, I will be making this letter also public. I await your substantive reply. Yours sincerely, Cllr Barrie Durkin.

Cllr Barrie Durkin's reply to Carl Sargeant

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Page 1: Cllr Barrie Durkin's reply to Carl Sargeant

Councillor Barrie DurkinAber Falls Tavern.Abergwyngregyn.

LlanfairfechanLL33 OLD

Carl Sargeant AC/DCMinister for Social Justice and Local Government.

Dear Minister.Thank you for your letter dated 30th June 2010.

As you quite rightly say, it is right that political structure and allegiances should be a matter for ourselves and that the Recovery Board should continue to have a strong interest in any developments. However, I must take issue with your comment, “Decisive action has been taken against some councillors who continued to misbehave”. From the Terms of Engagement of the new Alliance this statement is obviously aimed at myself. In the context of your letter, you would appear to support such action. I take great exception to this, in my opinion it only goes to show the diet of propaganda you have been fed. I am only too sorry you did not seek substantiation of the Council’s claims against me prior to writing your letter.

Prior to being elected as Councillor for the Llanbedregoch ward in 2008, I was active, along with others in exposing dishonesty and wrongdoing within the County Council particularly in the area of Planning which at the time was rampant as evidenced by issues of wrongdoing I exposed subsequently being admitted to and made public. Following my election to the Council I worked very closely with Cllr McGregor to help address the widespread public perception of corruption within the Council.

Our efforts in this direction were met an increasing degree of success. When Mr Bowles was appointed, he initially congratulated me for exposing officers involved in wrongdoing. Indeed Cllr McGregor always encouraged me to root-out dishonesty. However, shortly after Mr Bowles’ appointment, both he and Cllr McGregor did a complete volte-face instructing me to forget about any issues relating to past conduct, effectively granting an amnesty to all officers and councillors guilty of historical wrongdoing. When I refused to acquiesce to this instruction both Mr Bowles and Cllr McGregor embarked on what can only be described as a witch-hunt which has made my life, and that of my family’s, a living hell.

They have both made total unfounded allegations in public about me; my Solicitors have formally cautioned both about their conduct.

They have both recently formulated the new Alliance’s “Terms of Engagement”, sections of which, in the opinion of my barrister make serious and indefensible breaches of my Human Rights, exacerbated by the Council’s decision to make the document available to the public. Within the “Terms of Engagement” there are, as I am sure you are aware, several sections, which are actionable in a court of law. Along with many other Councillors, I have requested, on a number of occasions for that issue to be put right; this has been constantly refused and, as a result, I am now at the point of seeking legal redress through the courts. This is of course a last resort but if the issue is not resolved, and resolved very quickly, I will have no choice but to proceed no matter the cost.

For the avoidance of doubt, the only thing preventing Members unifying behind the new Alliance is the unlawful sections within the “Terms of Engagement”. The simple answer is to omit the offending items. Then, and only then will I consider whether I need to take legal action against, not only the council but against all who have acquiesced in such deplorable behaviour.

As with your letter, I will be making this letter also public.

I await your substantive reply. Yours sincerely,Cllr Barrie Durkin.