A PEMBROKESHIRE County Councillor has been advised to apologise following complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman that he voted on a controversial education shake-up after being denied permission to do so.
Cllr Thomas Tudor, who represents the Castle Ward of Haverfordwest, sought permission to speak during the extraordinary meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council on April 14, which discussed proposed major schools re-organisation across the county.
His application to speak was approved by the council’s standards committee.
But as a parent governor of Sir Thomas Picton School, where his children also attend, Cllr Tudor was denied permission to vote on the matter.
However, when it came to the extraordinary meeting, Cllr Tudor declared a prejudicial interest and voted – despite advice from the monitoring officer that doing so could constitute a breach of the Code of Conduct for Members.
As a result, council leader Jamie Adams and current cabinet member Myles Pepper both made complaints to the Public Services Ombudsman.
In a report due to be discussed by the standards committee next week, Cllr Tudor maintained that his children were at an age where they would have left school before any of the changes were implemented and said he had been actively engaging the views of constituents before voting.
Ombudsman Director of Investigations Chris Vinestock decided that no further action was necessary but advised Cllr Tudor to apologise to the standards committee for disregarding its decision.
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