Former council leader renews bid for judicial review of finding on sexual harassment

A former leader of Devon County Council has been refused permission to judicially review its decision to sanction him for sexual harassment.

Brian Greenslade was found last July by a committee to have harassed four female council employees.

The councillor sought to challenge this on ten grounds. According to Cornerstone Chambers, whose James Findlay QC and Matt Lewin are acting for Devon, these included challenges to the procedural fairness of Devon’s investigation and decision-making process and a more general assertion that he was denied a fair hearing as guaranteed by both the common law and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mrs Justice Andrews refused permission for a judicial review and rejected as unarguable all Cllr Greenslade’s arguments except whether the council had a legal power to exclude him from its premises, though she said that if this power existed the restrictions would be “plainly” proportionate.

Cllr Greenslade’s solicitor Jon Dunkley, of Devon law firm Wollen Michelmore, said he had been surprised to succeed only on the issue of access to council premises, as counsel had thought other grounds were stronger.

There would therefore be an appeal over the disallowed grounds, with a hearing in January. The judicial review application will be stayed pending the outcome.

Cornerstone said that Devon investigated after chief executive Phil Norrey received an anonymous complaint in November 2017.

A QC concluded the allegations were true and Devon’s standards committee in July restricted Cllr Greenslade's access to council premises other than the members' room, ante chamber and council chamber and require him to give notice and be accompanied by an officer if he wished to go elsewhere on council premises.

A statement from county solicitor Jan Shadbolt last July, when Cllr Greenslade first criticised the conduct of the standards committee meeting, said it was wrong to say the meeting had been scheduled for a time when it was known he would be unavailable.

Shadbolt said: “All our meetings are scheduled well in advance and are a matter of public record. Nor has there ever been a provision for either the complainant, witnesses or the subject member to make representation in person at a standards committee meeting. This is because the independent investigations give all parties an opportunity to put their case and provide evidence.

“This fact was well known to Councillor Greenslade who was actually on the very committee which helped to set the procedure.”

Cllr Greenslade left the Liberal Democrat group after the ruling and now sits as a ‘North Devon Liberal’. He is also a member of North Devon District Council.

Mark Smulian