'Bullying' behaviour witnessed by 'peer challenge' team during visit to East Riding Council

A team from the Local Government Association (LGA), including senior officers and a council leader from other councils, provided feedback as “critical friends” after a four-day visit to the council at the end of last year.

They spoke to around 90 people, including council staff, councillors and external bodies, and attended 38 meetings as part of the LGA Corporate Peer Challenge.

A draft report seen by The Yorkshire Post said the council’s culture was “inward-looking” and the team had witnessed “some unusually controlling senior officer behaviour that could be interpreted as bullying in some instances”.

The team was told about “important decisions being made outside of the democratic process because of generous officer delegated powers” which they said poses a “potential risk to the organisation”.

They came across examples of officers “demonstrating undue control over members’ decision-making role through a lack of transparency in the information provided to them”.

The peer review also raised concerns over financial management, saying reserves were due to fall by £49m in 2021/2022, with further falls to follow.

Cabinet members and the corporate management team needed to have “a much better collective understanding of the budget position” and more financial transparency was needed - the team themselves had difficulties trying to understand what was happening with the council’s reserves and efficiencies.

A source said the report had further deepened a rift in the Conservative Group and the leadership had been “daft” to invite the peer review team in, adding: “It is quite damning in that it clearly shows we are now an officer-led authority; there is little or no vision from the leadership; no confidence in the Cabinet and our financial management is poor.

“The council’s reserves under current policies and financial management are predicted to fall from £100m this year to £12m or less in 2026. We could well be skint in four years time.”

The report also said some of the council’s “partners” from bodies like parish councils and voluntary organisations felt the council “knows best” and has been on occasion “dismissive”, particularly at scrutiny meetings. It added: “This needs to change”.

A contributor to the review told The Yorkshire Post: “The East Riding tend to say they are consulting and when they do consult people know that it’s just a process and they do what they want to do at the end of the day.

“Whatever the outcome of the report, how long will it take them to do anything about it, if anything?”

East Riding Council issued a brief statement, saying it was a draft confidential report and “is still subject to a factual accuracy check”.

It said it would be published in full when the final report was complete, together with an action plan.

Conservative council leader Jonathan Owen and his deputy John Holtby were approached for comment.

Coun Owen said he'd been keen for a peer review as they were overdue one and was happy to discuss it when the final report was published.

Coun Holtby said he couldn't comment as the report was still at draft stage.

On its website the LGA says the review involves a team of experienced officers and members spending time with another council as “peers” to “provide robust, strategic and credible challenge and support”.

The council has been under Tory control since its creation in 1996.