AN OUTSPOKEN councillor has had his email and internet access suspended after officers claimed he may have breached the Data Protection Act.

Constituents trying to contact Cllr Roger West by email now receive a response saying his account has been “temporarily suspended”.

Bournemouth council will not say what he is alleged to have done, although it is thought he has been accused of forwarding to a third party an email intended for councillors.

A senior officer has blocked his access to IT systems and reported him to the Information Commissioner.

Cllr West, Liberal Democrat member for Redhill and Northbourne, told the Echo: “I don’t believe I’ve done anything wrong. I have always borne in mind my responsibility to the general public to be open and democratic.”

In an email to fellow councillors before his account was suspended, Cllr West claimed Town Hall officers must have “trawled” his emails to have made the allegations against him.

A statement by council executive director Liz Wilkinson said: “A number of issues have arisen which indicate that Cllr Roger West may have breached the Data Protection Act and privacy law, and this places the council and Cllr West at risk of liability.

“The circumstances are such that as the council’s senior information risk owner, I consider it is necessary to make a referral to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and to withdraw Cllr West’s access to the council’s ICT systems and e-mail account pending the outcome of the ICO investigation and the council’s further consideration of the matters referred as appropriate.”

Dispute with Tory leader

COUNCILLOR West has been involved in a long-running dispute over whether the council’s Conservative leader Cllr John Beesley properly declared his relationship with the disgraced property consultant Tony Ramsden-Geary.

Ramsden-Geary, a former Tory councillor and friend of Cllr Beesley, was jailed for 10 months in September after borrowing money without disclosing a record of bankruptcy.
A tribunal in 2011 exonerated Cllr Beesley over claims that he had not properly disclosed the extent of his relationship with Ramsden-Geary when Cllr Beesley chaired the council’s planning board.

But Cllr Roger West has repeatedly called for the council to publish an email he sent in July demanding Cllr Beesley’s resignation. Cllr Beesley called the message “false and misleading”.