Cllr Stamp: I was justified in questioning ex-colleagues

Former Liberal Democrat, Independent Councillor Andy Stamp, has claimed that he was justified in questioning the conduct of his two former ward colleagues.

Writing in today’s Medway Messenger, Cllr Stamp claimed that the Standards Committee both agreed with the need for an investigation and his version of events.

“But the committee was only able to rule on the information provided to them by the council,” he wrote, “and the council conceded that it is normal procedure for councillors to get privileged access when dealing with their own personal issues.”

Cllr Stamp said that he was concerned with the housing situation?among?Medway residents, and believed that no member should receive preferential treatment because of their role as a councillor.

“The real scandal in all of this is that there are over 10,000 people in Medway who have registered with Medway Homechoice because they need to be re-housed. It’s these residents who are being let down by Medway Council, while those with access to the private offices at Gun Wharf can bypass the normal procedures.”

Cllr Stamp leads with a charge to former councillor Cathy Sutton to answer three questions about her conduct:

“Was she able to get a meeting straight away with the assistant director of housing in a private office at Gun Wharf to raise her own housing case?

“Did Medway Council allocate a house for her within a week of that meeting?

“Did she receive a home bond (a deposit and a month’s rent) from Medway Council?”

The Assistant Director of Housing and Corporate Services, Deborah Upton, whose meeting with Ms Sutton caused the controversy, responded in the same page, claiming that housing was only part of the discussion.

“I saw Cathy Sutton in my office in my role as monitoring offer,” she replied. “I did not know what the meeting was about beforehand and her housing issues were only one part of the issues raised with me.”

Although she said that the other issues they discussed were confidential, Mrs Upton claimed she advised Ms Sutton of private landlords to speak to: the normal procedure when people are potentially homeless.

“Medway Council did not ‘allocate’ a house to Cllr Sutton … Cathy Sutton received a Silver Homebond from Medway Council as she met the council’s published criteria.”

Last week, former chairman of Medway Liberal Democrats Alan Jefferies wrote to the same newspaper calling on Cllr Stamp to resign, saying that he “without doubt damaged his own political credibility for?the future.?