Central Bedfordshire councillor told to make 'sincere public apology' by standards committee after complaints
A Central Bedfordshire councillor has been formally censured and asked to make a “sincere public apology” to two complainants at the next meeting of the local authority, its standards sub-committee has ruled.
Independent Leighton Linslade West councillor Steve Owen was found to have breached the members’ Code of Conduct over his response to criticism of the Central Bedfordshire Council’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) department and his subsequent stance on social media.
Two complaints were submitted against the former executive member for children’s services, who was dismissed from that position earlier this month.
Kirsty Green of the SNAP parent carer forum (PCF) complained to the council’s monitoring officer in December 2024 that councillor Owen had misrepresented it at a joint budget scrutiny meeting held that month.
And the other complaint was submitted by a parent regarding the conduct of councillor Owen during social media exchanges on the Central Bedfordshire SEND Action Group Facebook page.
Part of the Code of Conduct provides that councillors must treat others with respect, according to a report to the sub-committee.
Councillor Owen began the hearing saying: “My remarks on Facebook weren’t aimed at the first complainant (the parent) and I intended no disrespect to her.
“But I accept in good faith she felt genuinely impelled to complain about what I posted. So I regret any upset or annoyance I may have caused her.
“I accept there’s nothing to be gained by pushing to engage with the SEND parents’ Facebook page and I shalln’t repeat that again. I don’t believe the complaint reaches the level of a breach of the Code of Conduct.
“However, in any event, this is my on the record expression of regret.”
Alex Oram, of CH and I Associates, told the hearing: “The allegations centre on comments made by councillor Owen at a budget committee meeting and subsequent interactions on a public SEND Facebook group for parents and children.
“Councillor Owen was questioned at that meeting about ongoing communication failures within the SEND department. He repeatedly asserted he’s received no complaints regarding the inability of parents to get a response.
“He stated ‘I’m in regular contact with Kirsty Green and SNAP (PCF), and she’s made no allegations or complaints of that sort’. A SNAP ‘test the temperature survey’ report to CBC’s SEND sub-committee two months earlier had raised numerous and serious ongoing concerns among parents, highlighting the issue of poor communication.
“In her complaint, Ms Green said councillor Owen’s comments at the meeting permanently eroded public confidence in him and the council generally. She suggested ‘had parents believed what he said it would be hugely damaging to her personal reputation and that of the PCF’.
“Following the meeting, councillor Owen engaged with members and followers of the action group on Facebook around his assertion there had been no issue of communication in the SEND department. There were 127 comments on this post and it was shared three times.
“Councillor Owen said he persevered with the action group Facebook correspondence for a couple of days, despite ongoing criticism about the manner in which he was engaging with them because he sensed it as a real opportunity to create a dialogue in which some of their concerns would be raised with him.
“He didn’t consider there was any justification for the subsequent complaints about him. By suggesting Ms Green hadn’t been raising those sorts of concerns with the executive member, councillor Owen failed to treat her with respect.”
On the discussion at the meeting, councillor Owen told the sub-committee: “I was faced with the need to reply to the criticism about daily performance (of the SEND team).
“It was totally off the cuff and I did the best I could to say to people at the meeting that I hadn’t had criticisms of the daily performance of these officers made to be by anyone. That’s still true in the 13 months since that meeting.
“Nobody has still written to me with concerns of that sort in all that time, nor have parents.”
Chairing the sub-committee, Independent Sandy councillor Simon Ford announced: “We highly recommend councillor Owen offers a sincere public apology to the complainants at the next full council meeting.”
As well as the outcome being reported to that meeting later this month, the sub-committee agreed to instruct CBC’s monitoring officer to arrange social media training for councillor Owen.