No shackles are to be put on Marlborough’s 16 town councillors in expressing their views to the media following a debate on the Town Council’s publicity policy at Monday’s meeting of its Finance and Policy Committee.
Town clerk Shelley Parker prepared a two option report, one restrictive, one not, for councillors to consider and revealed that new legislation on accountability and transparency now existed which changed the way local government operated.
“With information these days you just breathe and its online,” she told them.
Councillors immediately opted for the second freedom to express their views option whenever contacted by the media and to issue their own press releases if they so wished.
And their choice followed a blast from Councillor Nick Fogg, also one of Marlborough’s two elected members to Wiltshire Council, who rejected the whole idea of any controls whatsoever.
“Anyone has the right to free speech,” he protested. “We certainly don’t have any document like this on Wiltshire Council or in Parliament or any other statutory body.
“The suggestion that you must refer the matter to the Town Clerk or the Mayor (as in the first option) before you make a response I regard as simply absurd.
“In all the time I’ve been on the Town Council and other bodies I have never claimed to speak on behalf of that body. And I would never attempt to do so. I’ve never filed a press release and I would be out of order if I did.
“I am just worried about this paragraph here that any inquiry from the media is to be referred to the Town Clerk. No one else should offer any comment without prior consideration with the Town Clerk.
“Even if it went through I have no intention of observing it because it is not legal. Anyone has a right to free speech. This is an absurd document from that point of view. I cannot vote for anything that says I cannot talk as myself.”
Councillor Noel Barrett-Morton proposed adoption of the non-restrictive option two of the 11-page report, which stated that “the aim of this policy is to set a framework to ensure that the Town Council is seen to communicate in a professional and objective manner.
“Nothing in this policy is to be interpreted as preventing, or attempting to prevent, a councillor from expressing a personal opinion through the media, for example by writing to a newspaper or posting an item on an internet site.
“However, members must make it clear that any views express, where different from council policy, are their own personal views. Members should take care not to misrepresent and/or bring the Town Council into disrepute and must bear in mind their responsibilities under the Code of Conduct.”
Councillor Richard Allen also backed the second option, declaring that it was common practice nowadays for councillors to be approached by the media, and it was custom and practice that councillors were able to give their opinion as long as they made it clear it is their personal opinion.
And do so without reference to the Town Clerk first, as outlined in option one.
Councillor Barrett-Morton agreed that option two of the report would “cover the whole thing” and allow councillors freedom to speak whenever they wished.
Mrs Parker pointed out that it would be helpful if copies of any press releases issued by councillors were passed to her “so that I am aware of what is going on.”
Committee chairman Councillor Andrew Ross interjected: “Obviously the Town Clerk has this information problem. We are not re-inventing the wheel here.”
Councillor Allen added: “We need to keep everything as simple as possible.”
A revamped policy document will now go before the next full meeting of the Town Council for adoption.
