Code of Conduct Panel decision

Outcome of a complaint made against against a councillor

On 12 October Spelthorne Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct Committee met to consider a complaint made against a councillor.  

The Panel heard that a resident had complained that his ward councillor, Cllr Steven Burkmar, had spoken to him in a disrespectful manner during a telephone conversation which took place in April 2016 and that the councillor was also failing to read or respond to email communications.

The Panel concluded that the actions of Councillor Steven Burkmar had amounted to a breach of paragraphs 7 and 9 of the Code of Conduct and that he had been disrespectful to his constituent during their telephone conversation. The Panel also found that he had also been discourteous and disrespectful to his email correspondents by failing to respond to them in a timely and appropriate manner.  

In light of the conclusion, the Panel imposed the following sanctions:

1. Councillor Burkmar is required to send a private, written apology to the constituent and copy in the Monitoring Officer, Michael Graham, within 7 days of the Hearing.

2. Councillor Burkmar is required to attend ICT training in order to get the best use out of the equipment he has purchased as soon as possible, and to advise the Monitoring Officer when this training is complete

3. The Council is requested to publish a factual press statement of the findings.

4. The Panel censure Councillor Steven Burkmar for failing to comply with paragraphs 7 and 9 of the Code of Conduct.

Murray Litvak, Chair of the Code of Conduct Hearing Panel, said: “It is hoped that this decision will underline the high standards that the Council expects from councillors when communicating with members of their community and I would like to thank the resident concerned for coming forward.”