Council leader resigns and refers himself to Ombudsman after Welsh Audit Office letter

The leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council has resigned and referred himself to an Ombudsman.

David Poole has been replaced as interim leader by Barbara Jones.

A Caerphilly spokesman said: “A matter has been brought to our attention involving the leader of council that requires further investigation.

“The leader has referred himself to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales and he will also be referred to the council's own standards committee for further investigation.

“In light of these actions, the leader has stood down to allow appropriate enquiries to take place. We are unable to add anything further at this stage.”

The Wales Audit Office told Local Government Lawyer it had written to Caerphilly “to draw certain matters to their attention that came to light as part of our routine audit work, during the annual audit of accounts for Cardiff Capital Region City Deal.

“We understand this is now being dealt with through two separate investigations; one by the Public Sector Ombudsman for Wales and the other by the council’s standards committee.”

The council said Cllr Jones was keen to reassure staff and the public that council business would proceed as usual.

She said: “I want to send a clear message that our focus remains on delivering key services to our residents and supporting the needs of our community and we will not be distracted from this.

“I fully appreciate that the resignation of the leader has caused concern, but this matter needs to be dealt with by the appropriate investigating bodies and we must allow this process to be followed.”