A councillor has been accused of taking cheap political shots at the Isle of Wight Council leader over unanswered emails and the ‘delayed’ release of correspondence.
It follows the release of a response letter from the government to Councillor Lora Peacey-Wilcox over the Island’s housing numbers.
After mentioning the correspondence in her report to full council published before Wednesday night’s meeting, the Alliance administration were pressured to release the response.
The date of the letter revealed Cllr Peacey-Wilcox had received the letter more than 20 days before publication — something she was also criticised for at the cabinet meeting last week.
At that time, she said she was having trouble with her emails, receiving about 1,000 a week and working through those was not easy.
Addressing the matter in her speech to the council on Wednesday, Cllr Peacey-Wilcox said she was saddened that Tory councillor Joe Robertson had made an issue about the letter as she was ‘desperately trying to care and look after the Island’s most vulnerable people’.
She said:
“Shame on you for showing no understanding or respect for the compassionate way I undertake my leadership role”, adding it was a way of taking ‘cheap political shots’ at her.
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Responding, Cllr Robertson asked what steps were being taken to ensure the hold-up did not happen again and ‘letters of key importance to the whole council are not left languishing’ in her inbox. Cllr Robertson said he had emailed Cllr Peacey-Wilcox on the subject, without reply.
Addressing Cllr Robertson, Cllr Peacey-Wilcox said it was perfectly appropriate to have some time to consider the letter before she chose what to do with it. She added given her workload, this was actually a very fast turnaround and she was trying to be open and transparent by adding key points to her speech.
Cllr Robertson also suggested it was ‘no longer sensible’ for Cllr Peacey-Wilcox to use her private email address for council business, something she denied.
Cllr Peacey-Wilcox left the meeting during its first break as she was not feeling well and subsequently announced she was stepping back from leadership duties for a time, as previously reported by Island Echo.
Cllr Robertson later asked deputy leader Cllr Ian Stephens whether he agreed Cllr Peacey-Wilcox should be engaged with her emails, to which Cllr Stephens replied it would be inappropriate to talk about but she had ‘never dodged a fight in her life’.
Sounds as though Cllr Robertson neeeds some PR advice.
It ‘s enough to make you sick
Yet if the council send letters to members of the public, you are expected to reply within a certain timescale.
If you write to the council they are supposed to respond within a certain timescale.
So is this another case of one rule for them and another for everyone else?
Just asking.
Sounds to me like she needs to organise her inbox better – a 1000 emails a week, is no excuse for not getting information out to the others in a timely manner. Is this why she is suddenly off – too much work on.
her lame excuse of trying to look after the vulnerable – pah – there are plenty of organisations and departments that do that – she is the leader of the council, not a care worker. she is the one using a cheap shot of blaming the vulnerable for her poor admin skills.
I’m still waiting for a reply to an email I sent to my local councillor (Independent Freshwater) on 27th August this year. Assisting the vulnerable seems the least of their concerns!
He spend most of his time struting around making out he’s a critcal thinker but in truth he is clueless. Ironically, if you want to speak to him he attends Our Place every Tuesday at the West Wight sports centre. It’s an event for the vulnerable in the community
If you can’t stand the heat then stay out of the kitchen