Wrexham councillors warned about behaviour during heated planning meeting

Two politicians were taken to task for launching verbal attacks during a virtual meeting of Wrexham Council’s planning committee held yesterday (Monday, 1 February).

Cllrs Bill Baldwin and Beverley Parry-Jones were both critical of information provided regarding proposals to create a new Welsh-medium primary school.

It came after concerns were raised over the extra traffic and parking problems it could cause at the existing Borras Park Community Primary School site.

Cllr Baldwin, who represents Little Acton, was the first to speak on the issue, accusing officers of manipulating traffic figures to downplay the impact and mockingly referencing the Harry Potter series of books.

He said: “I’d like to ask the highways officer what information she received that made these quite specific traffic generation concerns disappear into the ether.

“The transport statement states that only 79 new vehicles will arrive on Borras Park Road as a result of a new school being developed.

“Obviously, that figure can’t be relied upon as the figures have once again been manipulated downwards.”

He added: “Perhaps the new school should be called Hogwarts because clearly there’s some wizardry and magic going on if a new school can actually reduce existing parking problems.

“Maybe you will see the pupils playing Quidditch above the school playing field or perhaps in secret discussions with the highways officer, the transport consultants are going to build platform nine and three-quarters on Borras Park Road and the Hogwarts Express will bring all the pupils to the school.”

Cllr Baldwin, who is part of the Wrexham Independents, was rebuked by both committee chair Mike Morris and a solicitor for the local authority, who said his comments could be in breach of the council’s code of conduct.

It was the second time in a month the former executive board member has been pulled up for his remarks after making similar claims during a debate on plans to extend Barker’s Lane Primary School in January.

Cllr Morris said: “William, can you just stop there a minute please. I’m a bit concerned about you saying figures have been manipulated.

“Unless you’ve got clear evidence on that, you’re almost casting aspersions on the integrity of the officer.”

Cllr Parry-Jones also took aim at a highways consultant employed by the council to look into traffic issues.

It followed Claudia Currie from consultancy firm Mott MacDonald stating she had been unable to visit the school in person to examine the road layout due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Conservative councillor described the situation as “quite unacceptable”, despite Ms Currie explaining she had been told by her employers not to travel to undertake site visits because of the outbreak.

She added that local officers had provided her with enough information to come to a conclusion.

Cllr Parry-Jones said: “I would suggest that the highways officer, by not going out and looking at the road, hasn’t done her job.

“From what I’ve heard this afternoon, you’ve admitted that you haven’t been out and inspected the road.

“I would suggest that when a decision is made that we have that information and that you go out and inspect it and do your job.”

Cllr Parry-Jones was condemned by Cllr Morris, who described the tone of her comments as “unacceptable”.

Gwersyllt west councillor Gwenfair Jones went a step further by calling for her to apologise immediately for going “too far”.

Cllr Parry-Jones said: “If you think an apology is warranted, then I’m more than happy to apologise to Claudia.

“When Claudia clarified that she was a consultant and not actually employed by Wrexham County Borough Council, I wasn’t aware of that.

“After she clarified that, I did say that’s fine and I do understand.

“I do get passionate and sometimes my passions overtake my emotions, so I do apologise as I didn’t want to come over as being aggressive to you.”

The proposals were approved at the end of the debate, but the fall out continued after the pair’s comments were raised at a media briefing this morning.

Council leader Mark Pritchard called for an end to such behaviour during meetings.

He said: “I think there’s a difference between passion and being rude to individuals.

“On these occasions, I have confidence that the group leaders will deal with them.

“Cllr Beverley-Parry Jones has apologised, and I thought that was wise of her to do so.

“But it’s unacceptable, we can’t tolerate it and it’s got to stop.”

Cllr Baldwin’s group leader David A Bithell said he hadn’t watched the meeting, but believed he had since apologised for his remarks.

He said: “I’m not making excuses because as group leader, I take it very seriously.

“If people have misbehaved and they’ve said anything inappropriate, then clearly it’s not right.

“We do speak to our groups and remind them. I think generally in Wrexham we’ve been quite good, but unfortunately passionate people’s views do overspill at times.”