Cllr Tony Arbour, former Tory leader, suspended from Council for 28 days

6.58.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 20th Oct 2009

• LEAK of the Council's offer for a Teddington playing field while negotiations for its purchase were going on [which could have scuppered the deal] brings about his downfall.

A spokesman for Richmond Council said: "Cllr Tony Arbour, ward member for Hampton Wick, has been suspended from Richmond Council duty for 28 days due to his disclosure [in February, 2009] of confidential information, prior to the completion of the purchase of land opposite the Broom Road [Teddington] recreation ground on the former Normansfield Hospital site; it was secured for local school use as part of the Langdon Park Section 106 agreement.

"The Standards Hearing sub-committee judged unanimously that Cllr Arbour had breached paragraph 4 of the Members' Code of Conduct. The suspension will begin on 19 October, during which time Cllr Arbour will be unable to take part in formal Council business."

From the Code of Conduct:

'Preamble: The Ten General Principles of Public Life

. . Honesty and integrity - members should not place themselves in situations

where their honesty and integrity may be questioned, should not behave

improperly, and should on all occasions avoid the appearance of such

behaviour.

. . 4. You must not-

(a) disclose information given to you in confidence by anyone, or

information acquired by you which you believe, or ought reasonably to be

aware, is of a confidential nature, except where-

(i) you have the consent of a person authorised to give it;

(ii) you are required by law to do so;

(iii) the disclosure is made to a third party for the purpose of

obtaining professional advice provided that the third party agrees

not to disclose the information to any other person; or

(iv) the disclosure is reasonable and in the public interest; and

made in good faith and in compliance with the reasonable

requirements of the authority; . . '

The Standards Committee's role is to maintain standards of conduct and probity within the Council. It maintains and updates the Members' Code of Conduct and monitors Members' compliance with the code and its protocols. Membership: Five councillors [Bennett, Sue Jones, Bob King, Parsons, Eleanor Stanier (Vice-Chair)], and six independent members: David Greggains (Vice-Chair), Janet Fraser, Margaret Hill (Chair), Norman Buckley, Simon Colton, and Steven Gould.

• [Oct 25] Cllr David Williams adds: In 2007 the Council invited tenders for Terrace Gardens Yard, a very valuable housing plot in Richmond worth many millions. Cllr Arbour leaked to a local newspaper the confidential estimate of what the Council expected to get from the highest bidder. Making this figure public could have easily cost the Council a million pounds, as it would have been enormously advantageous for bidders to know this. The newspaper very responsibly did not publish this figure.

Cllr Arbour was reported to the Standards Committee for his reckless attempt to make this figure public. He was asked to make a written apology. Otherwise he would be suspended for 28 days. He apologised.

Related Links:

• Richmond councillor Tony Arbour suspended for leak [RTT, 16th Oct]

• London Borough Of Richmond Upon Thames Council Members' Code Of Conduct

• Purchase Of Land At Broom Road, Teddington [Cabinet paper, 15 December 2008]

• Council to spend £100k on Teddington field [RTT, 14th February]

•Tony Arbour's "Riff-Raff" Jibe Offensive to Social Housing Tenants [Fri 28th Sep 2007]

• Fury over social housing 'riff raff' quote by Arbour [RTT, 6th October 2007]

• Standards Board rejects Arbour complaint over 'riff raff' comments [5th November 2007]