Standards probe put councillor through '˜hell'

Coun Patricia Greenhough, a member of Preesall Town Council, has been asked to apologise to her fellow town councillors by Wyre Council’s standards committee, which investigates complaints against borough and parish councillors.

Coun Greenhough, along with Coun Barry Campbell, who has since resigned his Preesall council seat, was found by Wyre standards officials to have breached code of conduct rules by damaging the reputation of a former town council employee by making “unfounded allegation and inappropriate comments and behaviour”.

The behind the scenes standards row has been rumbling away among feuding members of Preesall Town Council for much of the year until it was exclusively revealed in last week’s Courier.

Last week The Courier had tried to contact Coun Greenhough for a response to the story in that week’s edition, which highlighted problems on Preesall Council.

The Courier has since emailed Coun Greenhough a list of questions about the situation.

In response, Coun Greenhough said: “Over the past 12 months I have gone through sheer, sheer hell. I am giving everything I can as a councillor, I never expected to go through this hell.” She added that the Courier only had “the tip of the iceberg”.

And she said the list of questions the Courier has asked her were “hurtful.”

She went on to say she had been working on several initiatives to save various community facilities including Knott End library, the village youth centre, the Fleetwood to Knott Ed ferry and the youth centre.

Last month Wyre Council standards committee went into private session to decide what action to take to follow-up the outstanding issues in the Preesall standards cases.

Preesall Town Council, several of whose feuding members have been cleared of breaking standards rules following an inquiry, has been criticised as “dysfunctional.” The cost to Wyre Council taxpayers for the standards investigation is about £3,000