Councillor refuses to quit after Christmas tree row

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

A council leader has rejected a call to resign after a row over Christmas trees ended up with the ombudsman.

Councillor Gaynor James says she has no intention of resigning as leader of Pontypool Community Council in response to the call from former colleague Giles Davies after a complaint against him was dismissed by the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales.

The community council had made the complaint and claimed its former member, who remains a Torfaen Borough councillor, had breached the code of conduct, that governs how councillors behave, when he posted questions on Facebook about its activities.

That included his complaints at its decision to no longer provide cut Christmas trees for outlying villages, the location of two trees in Abersychan, the ward he represents on the borough council, and the community council decision to allow members of the pubic to decorate the trees without any guidance.

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Private Individual

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Michelle Morris found Cllr Davies had been acting as a private individual questioning how the community council operates and said there wasn’t any evidence to suggest he had breached the code of conduct for her to investigate.

After receiving the decision Cllr Davies posted on social media that Cllr James, who he had previously served alongside on the community and borough council as Labour members, should resign.

Stating he was writing “in a personal capacity” Cllr Davies outlined the community council’s actions and wrote: “This isn’t democracy it’s vindictive and the Leader of Pontypool Community Council needs to resign her position and issue a formal apology.”

But Cllr James said any decision to refer a matter to the ombudsman is made by the full council rather than her personally.

She said: “I’m an elected member for Pontypool Community Council and I’ve been there for 13 years as a volunteer and I’ve been the leader for probably five years and get voted in by the members to be the leader. I’ve got no intention of resigning at all.”

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Freedom of Information Act request

She said complaints made by Cllr Davies, including that a Freedom of Information Act request he submitted wasn’t kept confidential as requested, will be considered by the council.

Pontypool Community Council complained Cllr Davies, who was a member and former chairman before resigning from it in 2022, had communicated “inappropriately” with the town council clerk, that he had undertaken an “obsessive campaign of harassment and hostility” and he was biased against the council.

The complaint was dismissed by the ombudsman.

Cllr Davies quit the Labour group, on Torfaen Borough Council, in 2023 and now sits as an independent.