Councillor cleared over skate park protest (From Free Press Series)

Councillor cleared over skate park protest

A CHEPSTOW councillor has been cleared of allegations of breach of conduct made against him while protesting against plans for the local skate park.

Cllr Cliff Meredith was reported to the Local Government Ombudsman By Cllr Andre Arkell, Cabinet member for Leisure and Superintendant Jonathan Burley, of Pontypool police station, in separate allegations of breach of conduct.

The allegations followed an incident at the skate park, where Cllr Meredith challenged police information gatherers, who were filming at the site.

Cllr Meredith said: "I said 'You shouldn't be videoing us here at the moment because there are children here. If I were doing it you would arrest me wouldn't you?'

"I didn't even know there had been any allegations made against me until I received a letter from the Ombudsman to say I had been exonerated - which was a big surprise.

"I thought it would have been common courtesy to be told there had been a complaint eight months before I found out. If I had been found guilty I had no time to build up my case.

"There were lots of us present at the park that day, I don't know if the police thought there was going to be some sort of riot, but that was never the case because we are all pensioners.

"I was accused of causing distress to a police officer - but he is a strong young man, much taller than me, and I'm a 71-year-old pensioner."

A spokesman from the Ombudsman's Office said: "There were two allegations that there was a breach of a code of conduct. The complaints were in connection with a planned proposal to develop a skate park in Chepstow.

"He was accused of trying to prevent a lawful positioning of the council being implemented, behaving in a way that could have been defamatory and brought office members and police into disrepute - causing public disorder.

"Having looked at the evidence, the Ombudsman concluded there was no evidence of a breach."

Superintendant Burley said: "There was a complaint made by the officers who were filming the protests in relation to some of the arguments Cllr Meredith raised.

"The council looked in to the matter and the local authority were notified and passed the details on to the ombudsman; who dealt with the matter and decided there was no case for Cllr Meredith to answer. The police abide by that decision."

Cllr Andre Arkell declined to comment.