by Adam Laver, Local Democracy Reporter, and David Dunning
Council officers in York have been criticised for editing the YouTube video of a clash with a local democracy campaigner.
Gwen Swinburn, who often attends meetings to comment on the council’s governance, was sent a letter on 12 February accusing her of defaming a council officer by saying they “do not have a clue what they are talking about”.
Ms Swinburn was responding to a decision to stop a letter being read out at the Joint Standards Committee on 31 January, because a deadline was missed by the councillor who wrote it.
Following the remarks, the chair of the meeting asked Ms Swinburn to apologise.
When she did not apologise and refused to leave, security escorted her from the building.
Ms Swinburn said the council was “making a mountain out of less than a molehill.”
The incident, which was live-streamed on YouTube, has since been deleted from the recording.
The leader of the Conservative Group, Chris Steward, says he’s very concerned about the editing of the public record of the clash.
“I do worry that there’s an issue with the council making too much of this,” he told YorkMix.
“Editing the video to me seems wrong, unless entirely inappropriate words are said in which case for me they can be bleeped out, by which I’m talking about racist comments, swearing, those sorts of things.
“I don’t think we should be doing it for words, which are critical, which may be rude, which may be inappropriate, but which will leave people saying what else may be edited – and cause greater concerns about our democracy and accountability and openness.”
‘Unacceptable and disruptive’
A letter from the council’s director of governance Bryn Roberts to Ms Swinburn read: “You defamed a member of the City of York Council staff, refused to either withdraw your statement or apologise, and thereafter refused to leave the meeting until you were escorted out by the council’s security provider.
“Such behaviour is unacceptable and is disruptive of the lawful business of the council.”
Mr Roberts has recommended that the council ban Ms Swinburn from attending any council meeting for three months.
The letter continued: “This recommendation is not made lightly, but given your history of failing to adhere to the constitutional requirements relating to public participation, it is considered necessary and proportionate in order to achieve the legitimate aim of ensuring that the business of the council can be lawfully transacted without interference.”
Ms Swinburn had until 5pm on 19 February to make further comments, but she did not.
Mr Roberts cited case law entitled R v Brent ex Parte Frances [1985] QB 869 to justify the recommendation in which it was said: “The purpose of giving the public the right to attend meetings is so that they can inform themselves of what is going on.
“They are not given the right to disrupt meetings and, of course, the right is not a right to participate in anything going on, merely to observe and hear what is going on.”
It has happened before
It is not the first time Ms Swinburn has been edited out of a council YouTube video.
In March 2016 the council was forced to put scenes involving Ms Swinburn BACK into its recording of a council meeting when Ms Swinburn clashed with the then Lord Mayor, Cllr Sonja Crisp.
The Mayor repeatedly interrupted Ms Swinburn and prevented her from completing her statement.
She was then ordered to leave the chamber. The meeting was suspended by the Lord Mayor until Ms Swinburn left.
That decision, undertaken for, it was claimed, “legal reasons”, was taken without the knowledge of either the then leader of the council, Conservative Chris Steward, or his Lib Dem coalition deputy leader Keith Aspden. And it caused furore.
It took a promise by independent councillor Mark Warters to call an extraordinary council meeting to debate the censorship for the deleted incident to be finally restored and re-uploaded to YouTube.
This week, a City of York Council spokesperson said: “While we do not comment on individual cases, as a council we have a duty of care to all of our officers, who have no right of reply to the public, and we cannot and will not permit officers to be defamed without consequence.
“While there is a general right for members of the public to attend meetings, it is not an absolute right irrespective of their conduct, and where any member of the public has been ejected from a meeting for misbehaviour, it is entirely reasonable that the council reacts in a proportionate way to modify the behaviour of any disruptive member of the public.”
