A council spokesman on councillor standards, suspended for two months due to claims of “bullying or harassment”, said he has “no alternative” but to appeal his punishment.

Cllr Richard Mainon, who represents Bodelwyddan ward, is Denbighshire Council’s lead member for corporate services and strategic direction.

On Friday he was barred from being a councillor for two months after a standards committee ruled he’d breached three parts of Denbighshire Council’s code of conduct for members.

The committee ruled his behaviour had constituted “bullying or harassment” towards a woman who had been in an altercation with one of his female constituents.

He admitted to the committee he went to the complainant’s place of work in December 2018 and discussed the allegations with three of her colleagues before he’d sought her version of events.

The complainant told investigators from the office of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales his actions had a “huge impact on her” and she had been “very embarrassed”.

However after reflecting on the committee’s decision over the weekend Cllr Mainon released a statement to the Local Democracy Reporting Service today (Monday), saying he will fight his corner at an appeal.

He said: “I’m deeply disappointed. Whilst I might have been naive in 2018 as a councillor those labels don’t fit the way I work now as a councillor and I have no alternative but to appeal.”

The decision means Cllr Mainon will continue in his role, both as councillor and as spokesman on his portfolio.

He has 21 days, from receiving the written determination of the standards committee, to appeal the decision to the Adjudication Panel for Wales.

An appeals tribunal can endorse the standards committee decision, refer it back and recommend it impose a different penalty, or overturn the ruling.

A full report of the findings and hearings should be published on Denbighshire Council’s website 14 days after their conclusion, according to the council’s procedures, and stay there for 21 days.

The Ombudsman’s office, which originally investigated the claims, noted Cllr Mainon’s compliance with the inquiry but ultimately said he should face the standards committee as he had “failed to comply with the following provisions of the Code of Conduct”:

  • not to conduct himself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing his office or authority into disrepute
  • not, in his official capacity or otherwise, to use or attempt to use his position improperly to confer on or secure for himself, or any other person, an advantage or create or avoid for himself, or any other person, a disadvantage
  • not to use bullying behaviour or harass any person

It was alleged Cllr Mainon intervened after an argument between a constituent and a member of the public outside the village’s Coop supermarket, on December 8, 2018.

His constituent, said to have been suffering from cancer at the time, asked him to make a complaint to the other woman’s employer after she alleged the woman claimed she was a dog warden and would have her pet removed from her.

The constituent later found out the woman worked for a social care regulatory body and informed Cllr Mainon.

He sought her out at her employer’s address, with the intention of getting her to refer herself to her own professional standards unit because of the supermarket altercation.

However she wasn’t at work when Cllr Mainon called and he didn’t seek her side of the story before revealing to the complainant’s office colleague, line manager and the organisation’s complaints officer what she was alleged to have said during the incident.

They all confirmed he identified himself as a county councillor and mayor of Bodelwyddan, and gave the impression he was visiting on official council business – which he accepted.

The hearing heard the complainant was unaware of the allegations repeated by Cllr Mainon to her colleagues until January 2019, when she was interviewed by her bosses.

They ultimately decided it was a private matter which required no further action – and she later complained about Cllr Mainon’s behaviour.