Dave, I have never made any critical personal comments about you, so I see no reason for your comment telling me to "grow up". Indeed, you will find on the other thread a comment about me about how much I always enjoyed working with Councillors from all the political parties during my time at Hounslow. For the avoidance of any doubt that includes yourself, Councillor Sharma & indeed all of the Heston & Cranford Area Committee. Correct me if I am wrong Dave but your wife was kind enough to buy me a bottle of wine and a card (both of which were declared by me !) when I left the Council.Direct me please to anywhere, in oral or written form, where I have made any accusations about the conduct of any individual. What I have said, entirely reasonably in my view, is that I would like Alan Keen, Councillor Sharma and yourself to provide evidence to support the various allegations that have been made.If they cannot do so then they are at risk of legal action for slander/libel - that is not an accusation, it is a mere statement of fact. If someone calls me an idiot, that is their subjective opinion, it is not a fact. However, if someone alleges that someone has been acting outside their contract of employment, bringing into question the professional integrity of that individual, that raises issues of slander and libel if those accusations are shown to be false or incorrect.To remind you of the allegations and who has made them :(1) Alan Keen MP is widely reported to have said, at a public meeting, that over 2 years ago the Council took a relaxed / lenient view on planning matters towards extended or Punjabi families. Such comments imply that Council Officers at that time acted outside of their contract of employment, and also in my case in clear breach of my code of membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute. If those comments were reported correctly, then it is entirely reasonable for me, as a Council Officer involved in planning matters more than 2 years ago, to ask that evidence be provided to support that allegation, as it casts doubt on my professional integrity. Perhaps those comments were incorrectly reported, in which case I have given Mr. Keen the opportunity to clarify that.2) Councillor Sharma has publicly suggested that the Council's enforcement team is focusing its efforts on a particular group of the community. I am not in a positon to comment whether or not this is true, and indeed I have never made any such comment, but would you not agree it is a very serious allegation against current Officers ?.3) You have alleged on this site that the Ombudsman was given misleading information. The reasons why such misleading information (if provided) was given to the Ombudsman is not as much of a concern to me as the simple allegation that again Council officers, past or present, would, for whatever reason, give misleading information to a government department, because again that would mean those Officers were not acting in accordance with their contracts of employment.You enquire as to why I am taking such an active interest in this matter. To put it simply, I am a very principled person who believes in right and wrong. I am also a resident of the Borough. I am also very passionate (and knowledgeable) about planning matters, which is why I've had such a successful career in this field.To go further, my professional integrity, whether intended or not, has been brought into question by the comments attributed to Alan Keen MP. The comments made by Councillor Sharma bring into question the professional integrity of ex-colleagues whom I was instrumental in both bringing to the Council and their career development. Finally, your comments about misleading information being given to the Ombudsman bring into question my own professional integrity, as I contributed to the Ombudsman's report and the professional integrity of ex-colleagues.Also, and this remains to be seen in this case, in my experience of numerous Local Authorities senior Officers/Chief Executives are sometimes extremely weary of becoming involved in these type of issues, for fear (understandably) of being seen to be taking political sides. I am obviously not constrained by such fears, as unlike many of the posters on here, including yourself, my issue with this has nothing to do with politics, as I have repeatedly emphasised, but solely by the bringing into doubt the professional integrity of myself and other Officers.Apologies to everyone for the length of this post, but it was the only way I could clarify things.
Adam Beamish ● 6250d