Tory councillor suspended from North Northants Council Conservative Group after bin row social media outburst

A Tory councillor has been suspended from the North Northamptonshire Council Conservative Group after he allegedly made ‘derogatory’ comments on social media.

Cllr Scott Brown (Earls Barton) expressed his bitter disappointment after a last-gasp attempt to reverse the council’s controversial £40 garden waste collection charge failed.

A cross-party group of councillors had used a call-in process to attempt to force the ruling executive committee to take a fresh look at the decision, which they approved in September despite thousands of furious residents, opposing it in a consultation.

After a 6-6 tie the scrutiny chairman Cllr Wendy Brackenbury (Con, Thrapston) – wife of executive member Cllr David Brackenbury – cast the deciding vote to block the bid.

On his Facebook page after the meeting, Cllr Brown had said: “I am bitterly disappointed that this decision is set to stand.

“I am aghast that the executive are ignoring 80 per cent of the 9,000 respondents to the consultation, upset that they’re ignoring the recommendations of the finance and resource committee and angry that the decision to take no further action last night was decided upon by the chair of the scrutiny committee who is not independent from the executive as they should be.

“If this is how NNC is going to be ran, I’ll be putting serious consideration in to whether this is an organisation I wish to continue being a part of.

“I can only apologise to residents for this decision, for the disgraceful conduct on this issue and for the fact I was unable to do anything to prevent it.”

It is believed action against Cllr Brown was sparked after he responded to tweet posted by fellow Conservative member Cllr Kevin Watt.

A letter to Cllr Brown from leader of North Northants Council Cllr Jason Smithers said: “Under Rule 13.5 of the Rules for Conservative Council Groups and in consultation with the Group Whip, I am suspending you from membership of the Conservative Group, so that I can carry out an investigation.

"This is because I believe that immediate action is required to address your comments on social media and derogatory language/comments to another member, also to protect the reputation of the North Northamptonshire Council Conservative Group.

“This suspension shall be for a period of 21 days while we investigate your conduct on the matter of the Scrutiny Commission’s call-in of the green waste decision reached by the executive, and the derogatory comments you have shared with another member of the group. Please carefully note that your opposition to green waste charging does not, of itself, form the subject of this investigation.”

An extraordinary meeting of the Conservative Group will be held at which Cllr Brown appear.

It’s not the first time Cllr Brown has fallen foul of the Conservative executive. He had the whip suspended for defying the party at the first ever meeting of NNC in 2021.

Cllr Brown reassured his constituents: “Please note this does not affect my work as your representative on the council and I will still act and work to the benefit of residents across the Earls Barton ward as I always have.”

Cllr Smithers said: “Because there’s an ongoing investigation it wouldn’t be right to comment at this moment.”