Councillor accused of bullying in dispute about Dalton gate

Aug 31 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A COUNCILLOR has been accused of bullying in an argument over a gate.

But Clr Roger Battye denies the charge and claims he was merely standing up for an elderly resident in a dispute with her neighbour.

Kirklees Council’s Standards Sub-Committee will consider the case next week.

The gate at the end of Wellhouse Lane in Dalton leads to a parking area, Dalton Bank Nature Reserve and the home of Margaret Stancliffe.

According to a council report, Gulfaraz “Gugsy” Ahmed – who has a farm nearby – believes only local landowners have the right to use the gate for vehicular access.

But Clr Battye believes the gate should be open to people who wish to visit Mrs Stancliffe and those who want to park there and use the nature reserve.

The report states that on August 5, 2009, Clr Battye happened to be in the area when he became involved in an argument with Mr Ahmed.

Clr Battye claims the farmer was trying to stop a refuse lorry from going through the gate to collect Mrs Stancliffe’s bin.

The Dalton Lib Dem said: “Mr Ahmed was trying to prevent Mrs Stancliffe from having her bin emptied.

“I witnessed this and I made my objections known. Mrs Stancliffe is in her eighties and it’s my job to protect her.”

However, Mr Ahmed reported Clr Battye to Kirklees for disrespectful, bullying and intimidatory behaviour.

Clr Battye denied the claim yesterday.

“I wasn’t being disrespectful or threatening,” he said. “I was doing my duty as a councillor and sticking up for the rights of Mrs Stancliffe.” Mr Ahmed has also accused Clr Battye of being threatening in a phone call between the two men.

The councillor denied this charge as well yesterday.

He said: “I have better things to do than be harangued on the phone so I hung up on him.”

The council’s monitoring officer has investigated the complaint and concluded: “Clr Battye did fail to treat the complainant with respect but did not bring his office as councillor into disrepute.”

Kirklees Standards Sub-Committee will meet at 10am next Friday at Civic Centre 3 to discuss the case.

The five-strong panel of councillors can either deal with the matter itself or refer it to the First Tier Tribunal which has the power to ban people from elected office for five years.

When asked what he thought about the complaint yesterday, Clr Battye replied “spherical objects”.

Mrs Stancliffe, 82, told the Examiner yesterday she knew nothing about the altercation between Mr Ahmed and Clr Battye last August.

The widow has lived in her cottage on Wellhouse Lane for the last 30 years.

She said: “I used to lock the gate in the evening and then unlock it in the morning to allow people to come and walk their dogs.”

But this arrangement changed after Mr Ahmed moved to the area about nine years ago.

Mrs Stancliffe still has a key to the gate allowing her to let her visitors in to park near her home.

But the gate is locked the rest of the time, meaning dog walkers have nowhere to park.

She said: “Mr Ahmed doesn’t want people walking down the road, even though it’s public.

“The dog walkers have stopped coming which is such a shame because it’s a lovely place for the dogs.”

The Examiner visited Wellhouse Lane yesterday afternoon to try to speak to Mr Ahmed. He wasn’t at home at the time.

The sub-committee will also consider two other cases at next Friday’s meeting.