Claims by ex-leader will not be referred to police, says council after MO inquiry

An investigation by the monitoring officer of a district council in Essex into claims made by a former leader of “inappropriate behavour” by a number of councillors has concluded that there was no evidence of any potential criminal activity or corruption.

Lisa Hastings, who is also legal services manager at Tendring District Council, had examined allegations made by the former Leader of the local authority, Peter Halliday.

Halliday stood down as Leader after a Cabinet meeting on 13 December 2013. He also resigned as ward member for St Johns in Clacton.

The internal investigation considered allegations made at the Cabinet meeting, newspaper reports and further information provided by Halliday, according to the council.

Ian Davidson, Tendring’s chief executive, said the case would not be referred to Essex Police.

He added: “The Monitoring Officer has informed me that she has concluded her enquiries and is satisfied that there is no evidence of any potential criminal activity or corruption.

“Therefore there is nothing to be referred onto Essex Police to investigate further and we will be notifying them of that.”

However, the chief executive said that Halliday had referred to some matters which could be potential breaches of the council’s own code of conduct.

“These will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the complaints procedure agreed by TDC members last year,” he said.

“The next stage in the process will be to seek clarification on the allegations.”