A Brantham councillor who has refused to abide by recommended sanctions imposed after he was found to have breached the council's Code of Conduct, has had further sanctions levelled against him.

Cllr Mark Aherne was found bySuffolk Joint Standards Sub-Committee for Babergh and Mid Suffolk to have 'demonstrates a complete disregard for the Code of Conduct for Members of Brantham Parish Council and continues to demonstrate persistent and unreasonable behaviour towards Officers and Members of Brantham Parish Council and Babergh District Council including the Monitoring Officer.'

Three councillors, comprising of entirely non Babergh members, and the West Suffolk Monitoring Officer, met at Endeavour House in Ipswich on 9 February, to consider why Cllr Aherne had not complied with the sanctions imposed by the deputy monitoring officer.

He had previously been investigated regarding his conduct towards the Brantham clerk. After consultation with the Independent Person, it was concluded that he had breached parts one and two of the Suffolk Local Code of Conduct (2012).

The Deputy Monitoring Officer imposed the following sanctions on Cllr Aherne:

• To publicly apologise to the Clerk at the next available full Council meeting
• To undertake Code of Conduct training and Equality and Diversity training as soon as possible, but no later than three months from the date of the response letter (February, 2022)
• To undertake training on responsibilities as an employer within three months of the date of the response letter (February, 2022).

However, Cllr Aherne did not comply with any of the sanctions issued to him.

Cllr Aherne, a former company director with Bespoke Electronics Ltd, which was dissolved in 2021, lives in Branham and provides IT support for a pre-school in the village, according to the register of interests.

His poor behaviour sparked a walk out among fellow councillors at the beginning of a Brantham council meeting in early January.

Although he did not attend the boards hearing earlier this month to put forward any mitigations as to why he had not complied with any of the sanctions, the case was heard in his absence.

The board agreed Cllr Aherne had demonstrated a complete disregard for the Code of Conduct for members of Brantham Parish Council and continues to demonstrate persistent and unreasonable behaviour towards officers and members of the parish and Babergh council, including the monitoring officer.

The standards board recommend the following sanctions to Brantham Parish Council:

• That Councillor Aherne comply with the sanctions previously imposed by Brantham Parish Council following the Monitoring Officer's recommendations
• That Councillor Aherne be given a single point of contact at Brantham Parish Council for the period of one year with a review after the first six months
• That the outcome of this decision and the sanctions imposed are published on Brantham Parish Council's website and other local media publications
• We request confirmation from Brantham Parish Council that these recommendations will be taken forward within the next three months.

Cllr Aherne continues to deny any wrongdoing and told Nub News: "Anybody can do pretty much whatever they like, so long as it is within the law.  

"Those so called officers and executives involved top to bottom at BDC in making this contrived decision notice should be held to public and legal account on all aspects, from start to finish".

"It is a terribly sad and disgraceful waste of tax payers money to see a so called "Local Authority" trying to cover up and hide from the truth of their own actions.  

"That said, I suspect many local residents of Brantham would say much the same thing; you only have to consider the way BDC endeavour to manage both themselves and local projects.

"The BDC decision notice and the prior sanctions are simply designed to cover up failings – people are innocent until proven guilty and I am an innocent party."

He added:  "I have provided BDC full disclosure of the truth and have, for over a year, offered to sit strapped to a lie detector under police interrogation conditions, in a High Court to prove it".  

"Strangely, no one from BDC has taken me up on that offer and I very much doubt that anyone from BDC would reciprocate with such honesty and integrity – instead BDC remaining running and hiding from the truth – The truth will out".

Meanwhile, Cllr Aherne continues to be investigated by Suffolk police on criminal matters in relationship towards his behaviour to the Brantham clerk and chairman.