A SENIOR Swindon councillor is said to have faced bullying claims from the parish council in his ward.

But the councillor, Gary Sumner, who represents Wanborough on Swindon Borough Council says the allegations were untrue and he did not accept claims of bullying.

According to a screenshot of draft minutes of Wanborough Parish Council’s meeting of September 23 this year, parish council clerk Angela Raymond submitted a complaint to Swindon Borough Council in April about the conduct of Coun Sumner.

The complaint alleged bullying and the draft minutes say the allegations were investigated by the borough council’s assessment panel on July 11. They say it “concluded Coun Sumner’s behaviour has been unacceptable and the matters raised did have the potential to constitute a breach of the council’s members’ code of conduct.”

The document says the council felt the complaint could be dealt with under an “informal resolution” – including Coun Sumner accepting he behaved unacceptably and offering an apology.

Coun Sumner denies this was the outcome.

The minutes as they appear on the parish council’s website now are significantly different.

It is understood they were changed on the advice of the borough council's legal team because they were inaccurate.

Coun Sumner’s name does not appear and details of the allegation have also been removed in the  published minutes.

The paragraph reads, in full: “Clerk submitted a standards complaint against borough councillor at the beginning of April 2019.

“SBC’s assessment panel considered the complaint on July 11, 2019. SBC felt that the complaint could be dealt with under an 'informal resolution' and agreed that the respondent would be invited to offer a written apology.”

Coun Summer said he was not asked to apologise, and that he did not do so.

The borough council says its investigations into complaints over conduct are always private and confidential.

A spokesman said: “It is extremely disappointing that confidential information supplied to the parish clerk was published on the parish council’s website in this manner and has now subsequently been shared with the Advertiser.

"This undermines the council’s complaints process for all councillors, which are overseen by a standards assessment panel to determine how best to deal with any complaints that are made.

“In this instance, the complaint did not warrant further investigation, and the assessment panel passed on its findings to the parish council on a confidential basis. As the outcome of the assessment panel could have amounted to defamation, the parish council was advised to remove the minutes from the parish council website and the confidential information.

“All councillors are committed to the principles under which they serve the public. The opportunity to exercise discretion in determining whether or not to investigate complaints at a local level and to explore whether alternative remedies might be more effective than a formal investigation are particularly welcomed by both councillors, councils and the public. They have also proven to be extremely effective.”

Local councils set their own codes of conduct and disciplinary procedures.

Swindon Borough Council says it always handles complaints confidentially. Wiltshire Council says it decides on a case-by-case basis.

Coun Sumner said he was unable to comment on what was a confidential matter.

Ms Raymond declined to comment further.