SCOTTISH Tory councillor Wendy Agnew has been suspended for two months after she was found to have made “inappropriate” comments about Gypsy Travellers.
The Stonehaven representative suggested that “Gypsies are not British people” at a Kincardine and Mearns area committee meeting back in November 2023.
Her comments were made during discussions around plans to change the use of the Findon Park football pitch near Portlethen into a camp.
The issue flared up due to the retrospective nature of the application being voted on.
Agnew suggested this showed a willingness to ignore rules on behalf of the applicants.
She said: “If they’re ignoring this, they may ignore other things. That’s my problem.”
When pressed by colleagues to retract her remarks, she added: “I don’t want to refute it. Anything could happen there. That’s all. It’s slightly worrying to me.
“And I’m not saying it’s just because they’re Gypsies. It would be the same if they were British people. I’d be worried about this massive site. That’s all.”
The incident sparked some controversy and resulted in Agnew stepping down as committee chairwoman in the aftermath.
By standing down she lost out on an extra £10,000 each year.
Now more than 18 months later, she has faced standard watchdogs.
An investigation has now been carried out by the ethical standards commissioner.
Ethical standards commissioner Ian Bruce said: “The respondent made inappropriate comments about Gypsy Travellers and the appropriateness of granting a retrospective planning application for a site, including insinuating that they are not British.
“This was deemed a failure to treat everyone with courtesy or respect, and also a failure to advance equality of opportunity.”
At the meeting, Agnew stressed she didn’t “feel hatred” towards Gypsy Travellers and blamed her comments on “clumsy language”.
The councillor also argued she had “no intent to be disrespectful”.
Before the recording of the fateful 2023 meeting was shared on YouTube, it had been edited to remove Agnew’s comments.
The council’s head of legal and people, Karen Wiles, admitted this had been done to prevent the local authority from facing any potential legal challenges.
She said: “It was apparent to me that people of a Gypsy Traveller community may have seen themselves as being differentiated from British people.
“That could be offensive since the two terms are not mutually exclusive.”
Standards Commission member and chairwoman of the hearing panel, Helen Donaldson, said members found Agnew had treated the applicant “less favourably” because she was a Gypsy Traveller.
They based this on Agnew’s suggested knowledge of unauthorised use of a different site and an assumption that Travellers were “more likely to breach planning conditions”.
Donaldson added: “The provisions that state councillors … must avoid any perception that they are not acting fairly and without bias when making decisions on quasi-judicial matters.
“The panel noted that a failure to comply with the code’s provisions in this regard can have a detrimental impact on the right of an applicant to be treated fairly, and can erode public confidence in the role of a councillor.
“Such a failure also had the potential to bring the committee, the council and its decisions into disrepute and open it up to the risk of a successful legal challenge.”
Members then decided to hand the Stonehaven councillor a two-month suspension.
This means she will not be allowed to attend any meetings or represent Aberdeenshire Council during this time.
