Watchdog suspends Councillor Maxine Smith for one month after 'maternity leave' claim
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Highland Councillor Maxine Smith has been found to have breached the code of conduct on two counts – and been slapped with a hefty one month suspension.
The panel found that she had failed to “timeously” register interests and for acting in a prejudicial way against a pregnant fellow councillor by having “not advanced equality of opportunity.”
The issues stem from the period directly after the 2022 local government election when Cllr Smith failed to register two business interests – something she admitted but denied doing intentionally believing the register would carry forward.
The second charge was that she had suggested that fellow ward Councillor Tamala Collier was ill-suited to sitting on the North Planning Applications Committee because she was pregnant and may go on maternity leave.
At the time, Cllr Smith said the ward needed members on the committee representing it to be “continuous and consistent” – which was ultimately deemed by the panel to be “discourteous” and had “not advanced equality of opportunity.”
The veteran councillor who is currently the co-leader of the Highland Alliance denied the allegation that she had ever been prejudiced against another woman and the panel accepted her motive was born of her passion for the planning committee.
More to follow…
