Chard Town Council criticised in Rolley Report

The council has seen a high turnover of town clerks in recent times, with at least four permanent and two temporary clerks being hired and then leaving over a ten-year period.

After eight separate allegations of bullying were submitted to South Somerset District Council’s monitoring officer – which oversees the conduct of local democracy across the whole district – an independent report was commissioned to examine these issues.

Following a delay to obtain legal advice, the report (dubbed the Rolley Report) has now been made public.

While the published version of the report contains a number of redactions, the Local Democracy Reporting Service has seen a copy of an unredacted version.

We are sharing the findings of the completed report because we believe it to be in the public interest to ensure the public are not being misled by their elected representatives, on matters for which they have accepted responsibility.

Here’s everything you need to know:

Why was the report commissioned?

The Rolley Report was commissioned in October 2022 to “investigate current and historical working processes” at the council, with the councillors noting that “a change in the organisational and behavioural culture” may be needed.

Chris Rolley, who runs a Sussex-based consultancy firm, interviewed a large number past and present employees as well as councillors – though some declined to take part, which he described as “disappointing”.

Mr Rolley noted the council had a “chequered” history, having had seven clerks (including locum and temporary appointments) since 2015 – three of which had left under some form of settlement agreement.

This high turnover of staff led to the council being seen as “a toxic, confrontational environment, with the same councillors consistently identified as being central to the relationship difficulties.”

What did the report conclude?

Based upon his interviews with those councillors and employees who consented, Mr Rolley stated: “The body of evidence… overwhelmingly confirms that previously identified issues relating to poor standards of councillor conduct and behaviour, a failure to understand the respective roles of councillors and staff, dysfunctionality [sic] and poor processes, are still areas of concern.”

Mr Rolley said that many of the services provided by the town council were “not of a particularly high or even good standard”, with the high turnover contributing to a “total lack of strategic vision”.

He said: “Linked with high turnover of staff, poor morale, little intrinsic knowledge retention, poor officer member relations, poor officer-to-officer relationships resulted in the service delivery being dysfunctional.

“There is no innovation in service delivery whatsoever and no forward thinking as to what services could be better delivered via the town council post-unitary status.

“An endemic culture has been created over many years whereby the differing roles of councillors and officers have been ignored or overruled – a common occurrence in poor-performing councils.”

Mr Rolley identified a number of specific examples where the treatment of council employees by councillors had fallen well short of acceptable standards – including:

• A locum clerk who stated the council “wouldn’t take my advice” and claimed a a small number of councillors were “targeting staff”
• A middle manager who left after he raised building safety concerns – concerns which he claimed “toxic” councillors told him not to pursue
• Around 75 per cent of interviewees said the council was “overly political” and “acts politically in its dealings” – despite the fact that most town council services have no political element to them

Mr Rolley isolated one specific incident which occurred on June 22, 2022, which has led the report to be dubbed ‘the badger report’ on social media.

On the day in question, a member of the public called the town council to ask that a dead badger be removed from Victoria Avenue.

A council employee took the details down, advised the caller that it was the responsibility of South Somerset District Council and that the employee would report it.

The employee made the same assurance to other callers – but the badger was still there by the end of the working day.

This led to an email thread being posted on Facebook, on which one town councillor commented: “I’m disappointed that that Chard Town Council did not help and report it for you, do you know who you spoke to?”.

Based upon his interview with the individual concerned, Mr Rolley concluded: “This incident was upsetting for the employee involved, who had behaved professionally.

“It gave voice to a false perspective that the town council was remiss in the affair, whereas it was the district council’s issue to resolve, and it was harmful to member/ officer relationships as the way it was handled was unprofessional.”

Who are the councillors responsible?

The Rolley Report does not include the names of any councillors or employee of the council, in either its redacted or unredacted versions.

Mr Rolley said this was deliberate and that his report was “not intended as a witch-hunt.”

He did, state, however, that the councillors about whom the most concerns were raised did occupy senior positions on the council – and were also regarded as “the most hard-working” local representatives.

What does the report recommend?

The report recommends that the council should make the following ten changes as soon as possible:

1. Sign and adopt the civility and respect pledge created by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC)
2. “Adopt as policy and abide by” the dignity of work policy, using wording created by NALC
3. Reaffirm its commitment to councillor and staff training, with a “simple training policy of intent”
4. Ensure all councillors’ declarations of interest are up to date and posted on the council’s official website
5. Support the new town clerk in obtaining his necessary qualification within an agreed timetable
6. Once the town clerk has passed his training, commit towards achieving the quality standards laid out by NALC through its quality awards scheme
7. Ensure a “robust” policy is in place regarding staff exit interviews, with raised concerns being reported to the council’s human resources committee
8. Ensure staff appraisals are properly carried out, in accordance with “recognised best practice standards of timeliness and objectivity”
9. Put protocols in place governing appropriate meetings or discussions between councillors and officers outside of public meetings
10. Ensure these and all its other policies are “robust, comprehensive and accountable”

How has the town council responded to the report?

At a special full council meeting held on Wednesday evening (March 29), councillors voted to accept the report in its entirety and to implement its recommendations.

In a statement published on its official website the following day (March 30), the council said; “It is the intention of the council to agree to implement all the recommendations to the time-scales stated within the report.

“Chard Town Council wholeheartedly acknowledges the findings in the report and is committed to moving forward to serve the people of Chard in a collaborative and united way.”