Cllr Luke Rogers, Liberal Democrat member for St Ives East, Lelant and Carbis Bay, has blamed a Cornwall Council clerical error for damaging his reputation and is calling for a public apology.
He was criticised at a meeting of the local authority's west sub-area planning committee last month. Rogers had brought an application for nine new homes in Carbis Bay for consideration by the committee rather than planning officers due to public concerns, but he was not present at the meeting to speak for the five minutes allotted to local members and was not available to answer questions.
Comments have been made at recent planning meetings criticising local members who call applications to committee but do not appear in person or online to explain their reasons.
West sub-area planning committee chair Cllr Brian Clemens, who says he will make a statement at the next committee meeting, said there was "confusion" and although there was an internal IT error, Rogers had received other correspondence featuring the correct date and time.
Clemens said during July's meeting that no apology had been sent for Rogers' absence. "It is unacceptable in my opinion if somebody brings something to committee and doesn't speak. It doesn't help the residents and it doesn't help this committee," he added.
Cllr Mike Thomas said: "The issues Cllr Rogers has raised are very interesting – he's written a good item for us to read and I have plenty of questions that I wanted to put to him. I feel cheated that I can't have that opportunity."
Rogers has now written to the committee and council officers explaining he was given the wrong date by the committee's admin team. He is demanding a public apology.
His letter states: "During the meeting, members publicly criticised my absence, suggesting that I had failed in my responsibilities after requesting that the application be determined by committee rather than under delegated powers.
"These comments were made in a public forum and have since been reported in the local media, causing unnecessary damage to my reputation and creating the false impression that I chose not to attend a meeting that I had specifically requested. That impression is entirely incorrect."
He added: "The sole reason I was absent was because I was provided with the incorrect meeting date by the committee administration. The invitation issued by the committee admin contained the wrong date, which I entered into my diary automatically. I therefore believed the meeting was taking place the following day. My absence was the direct result of an administrative error by Cornwall Council, not any failure or lack of commitment on my part.
"This makes the public criticism I received particularly unacceptable. Before members publicly questioned my conduct, no effort appears to have been made to establish why I was absent. Had a simple enquiry been made, the committee would have discovered that the fault lay within its own administrative processes.
"More importantly, this error did not simply affect me personally. It deprived the residents of Carbis Bay of the representation they were entitled to expect from their elected member. I requested committee determination because of the significant level of public concern and because I believed the planning issues deserved proper public debate.
"Through no fault of my own, I was prevented from representing those residents because of an administrative mistake made by the authority itself."
Rogers has demanded an "unequivocal apology" and confirmation that steps will be taken to ensure "similar administrative failures do not occur again".
Clemens told CornwallLive that an internal IT error caused the wrong date to appear on Rogers' Outlook calendar. However, he said Rogers had also received three correspondences containing the correct date and time of the meeting. He added that a planning meeting could not have been held on the incorrect date as it was the same day as a full council meeting when no other public meetings are held. Clemens said he would make a statement at the start of the next west sub-area committee meeting.
Rogers responded: "I understand that mistakes happen and I appreciate that. What I found frustrating was how quickly some councillors were prepared to criticise publicly rather than simply picking up the phone and asking where I was.
"In this case, although other correspondence may have referred to a different date, I relied on the official Cornwall Council diary entry which showed the meeting on the Tuesday. I've always trusted the council's diary system and have never had any reason to question it before, so it didn't occur to me to double-check it against other correspondence."
Cornwall Councillor Demands Apology over Missed Meeting Error