Angry councillor stripped of Torbay 'champion' role

'This is a personal vendetta and a political vendetta'

Outspoken Torbay councillor Katya Maddison has been stripped of her role as the local authority’s ‘champion’ for culture.

The move, described by one member as a ‘public shaming’, is the latest stage in a long process which began when Cllr Maddison (Independent, Shiphay) criticised council officers following a bad-tempered meeting last year.

She said ‘shame on you’ to council chief executive Anne-Marie Bond immediately after the meeting, which centred on the selection of a mayor for the following year. She then criticised the council’s procedures on social media.

As a result, she was censured by a standards committee and instructed to make an apology. Then, at a recent meeting of the full council, Cllr Maddison declined to apologise and said she is preparing further legal action. She said she had nothing for which to apologise.

The council’s cabinet has now decided that she can no longer be the authority's member who lobbies for culture and the arts, dealing with organisations such as English Heritage and the Arts Council.

She conceded that the role had become ‘impossible’.

Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) said: “The cabinet does not have confidence in Cllr Maddison to represent the cabinet in the kind of light we would expect a member champion to portray.

“It is extremely sad that I have to bring forward a motion that Cllr Maddison be removed from the position.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Swithin Long (Barton with Watcombe) warned that the move would re-open old wounds and stop the council moving forward.

“The cabinet seems to be setting itself up as judge and jury on councillors’ behaviour,” he said. “This is a public shaming, and nothing positive will come from it.”

Cllr Maddison said it was ‘incredibly unfortunate’ that the cabinet had chosen to step beyond the recommendations of the standards committee to strip her of the ‘champion’ role. She said there was ‘institutional abuse of councillors’.

“This whole episode is an example of the deep lack of democratic urge that lies at the heart of this administration,” she said. “I accept the cabinet’s decision, but there is a great deal that lies behind what has happened today.

“This is a personal vendetta and a political vendetta.”