Friday brief: Commissioner slated for misogynistic comments but no action taken so far
Plus our usual Friday round up
Northamptonshire police, fire and crime commissioner was criticised for his ‘incredibly abusive’ language directed towards his chief fire officer, but the panel responsible for holding him account could not do so yesterday.
As we exclusively reported, Commissioner Mold told firefighters on a visit to a Northants station earlier this month that he would ‘dump the bitch’ when asked what would happen if new fire chief Nikki Watson was found guilty of misconduct by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
Yesterday, after widespread condemnation from across the political spectrum of his misogynistic slur, Stephen Mold had to face a public meeting with the police, fire and crime panel, but once again, the panel, which is made up of mostly councillors from the same Conservative party as the commissioner, was without any power to sanction the politician who has been embroiled in controversy for many months.
Democratic services officer James Edmunds told the panel that without any official complaint, they were not in a position to act.
Only conservative Andre Gonzalez de Savage attempted to hold the commissioner to account, with other members of the panel questioning whether the matter should even be addressed.
Cllr Gonzalez said:
“It is incredibly abusive. I don’t think we can condone any of that behaviour and the apology we had at the start of the meeting was very mild.” He said he had found the words used against Nikki Watson ‘absolutely atrocious’ and considered the behaviour of the commissioner as ‘abhorrent’.
At the start of the meeting, which took place at the Guildhall in Northampton, the commissioner made a statement in which he said he had apologised and that his language had not represented his ‘core values’.
The chief executive of his office, Jonny Bugg, who is also the monitoring officer, said the commissioner had contacted him on the same day he had made the comments and two complaints had been received anonymously through the fire service’s freedom to speak up system.
He said he was pleased to see the complaints system was working and he had had a ‘reflective’ conversation with the commissioner who had ‘made efforts to speak to’ the fire chief.
However, as far as NN Journal is aware, no sanctions or disciplinary procedure has been started against the commissioner by Mr Bugg, who was appointed by Commissioner Mold just a few months ago.
The panel has responsibility for checking the actions and decisions of the commissioner, but in the absence of an official complaint, the matter was not on the agenda yesterday. However the commissioner attempted to shoehorn into the meeting an estates strategy that was not on the agenda, saying there were plans to move Kettering fire station to the Northern police base in Kettering and for a new police and fire station in Moulton, replacing Weston Favell station.
The chair of the committee David Smith, was unusually robust with the commissioner and said there was ‘massive discomfort’ about the comment he had made.
Adam Taylor from the Fire Brigades Union attended the meeting and interrupted proceedings and said:
“This behaviour is now a barrier to women who want to come into the fire service. This is your [the panel’s ] responsibility. This is exactly what you are here for, to scrutinise the decisions and actions taken by the police and crime commissioner.”
And while Stephen Mold may not face any immediate action from the panel, he could face problems from his own local party.
After he controversially appointed close friend Nicci Marzec to the chief fire officer job in July a group of 27 conservative councillors from across the North and West unitaries wrote a letter to the chair of the regional conservative association, Andy Mercer, who took no further action.
However following this new controversy, a number of complaints have been made to Tory headquarters. Some local councillors have contacted NN Journal to say they will not campaign for commissioner Mold. There are also rumours the commissioner could face de-selection as the candidate in the May PFCC elections.
News in brief
West Northamptonshire Council is set to propose stricter rules on e-scooters in the county, as residents have voiced their safety concerns and grievances with the transport service as a whole.
The current trial of Voi e-scooters will come to an end in May, however a WNC scrutiny group tasked with assessing the effectiveness of the scheme has made a recommendation for it to continue into 2026, on the condition that a road map of improvements is made.
The scooters were first launched in Northampton in September 2020 and were renewed in 2022, with an aim to reduce carbon emissions and make public transport more accessible.
Some of the suggestions to crack down on inappropriate use of the scooters include:
A review of the scooter’s speed controls
Restricted zones to be inspected and extended
Harsher enforcement on scooters parked in key locations, such as disabled and emergency access points
New technology is sought to eliminate multiple people from riding together on one scooter and from driving on the pavement
Improvements to the visibility of e-scooters at night
Registration numbers on vehicles to be more visible and improving the complaints procedures
The cabinet considered the proposals made by the scrutiny group on Tuesday and the final decision on the continuation of the scheme will be made in May.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Plans to transform a derelict dairy farm in a Oundle into a new neighbourhood of barn conversions have been refused by the council. The proposals would have seen five deteriorating agricultural barns on the western edge of Oundle off Stoke Doyle Road, redeveloped into “functional but attractive” homes.
Blueprints showed plans for a further four houses to be built to the south of the estate, totalling nine dwellings overall. Planning officers at the council refused the development on the grounds that it would be “out of keeping” and result in the overdevelopment of the site.
The applicant, Mr D Bierton, made a bid to convert the barns on site and repurpose them for residential use.
Concerns were raised by members of the public over the risk of flooding to nearby residents.
Oundle Town Council also objected to the proposals saying that “the whole of the development site is of considerable historic significance” and that a proper archaeological survey needs to be undertaken. The council’s environment agency, ecology officer, waste management, and housing strategy team also submitted their own objections to the plans.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
More than £3 million was earned by West Northamptonshire Council’s (WNC) car parks last year, a freedom of information request by the local democracy reporting service has revealed. The authority has restated its pledge to keep parking free in Brackley, Daventry and Towcester as Northampton remains the only town with council parking fees.
WNC manages 19 free car parks and 19 paid within the county. It says the money made is spent on the maintenance and upkeep of all of its parking sites, as well as the remainder being used to support vital services like adult social care, children’s services, highways, and more.
The highest-earning car park, accruing more than half a million pounds alone, was St Johns MSCP. The 485-space facility brought in £607,472 for the year. The Grosvenor multi-storey brought in £422,050, followed by the Mayorhold MSCP on Lady’s Lane, with £340,353 made throughout 2023.
The top five car parks alone brought in a combined sum of £1,800,368 for the authority, however only £129,554 went back into the sites for maintenance and running costs in that same period. Across all council-owned car parks in West Northants in 2023 £3,065,840 was made.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
Westminster Watch
Kettering Liberal Democrat Chris Nelson appeared on BBC Breakfast this week to call on parliament to be more inclusive of people who communicate differently. Chris Nelson, decided not to stand as the parliamentary candidate for Kettering recently after deciding he could no longer put up with the abuse he has been facing due to his stammer.
He has now teamed up with charity STAMMA to petition Westminster to make the changes.
Read our story with Chris here.
Also, the county’s newest MP used her maiden speech in parliament to promote visits to the constituency.
Labour MP Gen Kitchen won the Wellingborough and Rushden byelection last month.
I was sat in on that meeting and an incredibly weak apology and lack of scrutiny by the panel who seem to be in awe and fear of Mold, all chiming in with excuses why they could not discuss the issue as no complaints made, not on the agenda, in between patting themselves on the back about what a good job they do holding him to account.
The electorate will not forget their weak stance on such matters in the coming weeks.
Several official reports have shown that the police and fire service are rife with misogyny and racism. Easy to see where this stems from.