Anglesey County Council: "bedevilled by personality driven, petty parochial vindictive factional infighting"

  

David Bowles

BBC Wales's Betsan Powys is reporting on her blog an extraordinary letter written by Anglesey County Council's Managing Director, David Bowles, to all Councillors.

The full text is not yet available, but Betsan picks up the following quotes:

The council "has been bedevilled by personality driven, petty parochial vindictive factional infighting. This is a disgraceful example of an attempt to use an officer as the meat in the middle of the sandwich of personality driven infighting; even worse those involved see nothing wrong with dragging an officer's personal and private life into these matters".

"I have been appointed by the Minister and ... am therefore not bound by some of the constraints which may face other officers within local authorities".

"I did consider marking this letter Private and Confidential but decided against it on the basis that it would get leaked anyway. I regret having to write to all Members in these terms rather than just the few but that is a consequence of how the few conduct themselves".

Extraordinary is certainly the word - and shows that the problems which have beset the Council for the past few years are by no means over.

Bowles was appointed last year by Local Government minister, Dr Brian Gibbons, following a damning report on Anglesey County Council's performance by the Auditor General for Wales. Bowles himself is no stranger to controversy having been suspended from his last job as Chairman of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust.

More information as soon as the Druid has it...

UPDATE: Here is another quote from the letter:

"...Those few who put their petty spiteful factional infighting above the interests of the island have no place on this council..."