Neighbours from Hell Creator Slams Council Investigation

Bernard Clark, the creator of TVs Neighbours from Hell, has launched a formal complaint against West Berkshire Council over its investigation into him for calling a resident a "neighbour from hell".

West Berkshire Council voted to censure Clark a former Cold Ash parish councillor for breaching the parish councils code of conduct after he described local resident Gavin Bailey in emails. Mr Clark also called Mr Bailey 'psycopathic', 'pompous', 'high handed', 'hectoring' and a 'dangerous and nasty man'.

The row began when Clark was alerted to a family whose land was being dug up as neighbours sought to widen a rural lane between properties. Clark says Mr Bailey and his wife hired a digger and operator to widen the lane by slicing off garden banks belonging to the Fenner family.

Clark has made a formal complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, citing what he calls substantial failures in West Berkshire Councils investigation and last weeks hearing, including denying his enhanced right to free speech as an elected representative and refusing to accept evidence that supported his "neighbour from hell" claim.

The council refused to consider video and photos of the digger and operator, or testimony from the Fenner family, during the standards investigation. The probe produced a 670-page report totalling 192,000 words by the councils deputy monitoring officer and an independent solicitor; Clark estimates the process has cost local taxpayers around 35,000.

Clark, who stood down as a parish councillor earlier this year, said: "It is obvious and self-evident that people who hire a digger-driver to destroy part of their neighbour's property are neighbours from hell.

"Yet West Berkshire Council spends 35,000 persecuting the parish councillor who blows the whistle on that destruction.

"It is a ridiculous injustice and appalling waste of public money when the public coffers are bare."

West Berkshire Council has not verified Mr Clarks cost estimate but did appoint an independent investigator. The council said it considered the Article 10 rights of both Mr Clark and Mr Bailey, including freedom of expression, and unanimously found Clark had breached the Cold Ash Parish Council Code of Conduct by failing to treat Mr Bailey with respect and bringing his role and the authority into disrepute.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman cannot overturn council standards decisions on appeal, but it can review whether processes were conducted properly, which can lead to decisions being overturned.

West Berkshire Council said it is publishing the outcome because of the nature of the findings and public interest, stressing the need for transparency, accountability and public confidence in local democracy. The council concluded the comments went beyond the standard of behaviour the public should expect from an elected representative.

Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter