One of the most senior officers at the Isle of Wight Council has come under pressure over how the authority dealt with a petition calling for it to declare no-confidence in Southern Water.
Christopher Potter, who is responsible for County Hall’s legal governance, has faced scrutiny from All for Islanders leader, Cllr Chris Jarman, on a requested review of whether the council dealt with the 3,697 signature Change.org appeal properly.
Campaigners behind the petition and review request, Sustainable Freshwater, previously voiced concerns over whether the petition, submitted under council rules, was handled transparently and constitutionally.
Instead of backing the motion set out in the petition, County Hall passed an alternative combined proposal on Southern Water from independent council leader Jonathan Bacon and Reform UK councillor Les Kirkby in July.
Mr Potter told the policy, finance and resources committee (PFRC) on Thursday 8th October that after a vote at the July meeting, the motion arising from the petition was rejected by a majority of councillors.
Richard Quinn, Reform UK representative for Mounjoy and Shide, said:
“I think we all agree that Southern Water are not doing what they said they’re going to do and they’re not very helpful for the residents around the Island.
Article continues below this advertisement “But with this review, I think it’s going to be opening up to other reviews coming back to us. It went to full council, it was debated at full council. People had a democratic right to vote and they all voted against it…and it didn’t go through.
“So my worry is if we accept this petition, we set a precedent of what’s going to happen in the future if something doesn’t go through at full council.
“I’d like to ask the monitoring officer, was everything done to the procedure that should have been done at full council?”
Mr Potter gave a yes in response to which Cllr Jarman said he did not share the confidence of this answer.
Cllr Jarman continued:
“I would point out that the request for a review is not seeking for reconsideration of that decision. It is simply asking for a review of the process that was followed, particularly as there were a number of competing elements to it.
“The changes were made at very late notice and some of those in the chamber itself regarding a composite motion.
“All they (Sustainable Freshwater) are asking for is a chronology of the decision-making process that was followed. I can see no reason why we should not allow them to have the detail of the decision-making process by which that decision was arrived at.”
Mr Potter responded that in line with the constitution, which he emphasised is a publicly available document, the rules of debate and petition scheme were followed.
At Thursday’s meeting, PFRC voted to refuse Sustainable Freshwater’s review request.
A trio of Reform councillors backed a refusal, with Cllr Jarman and Liberal Democrat representative Mark Rochell voting against. A pair of Green and Island First Network members abstained.
Southern Water previously said it takes concerns about its performance seriously and claimed it is investing millions of pounds to reduce storm overflows, improve infrastructure and enhance environmental performance across the Island.
