THE independent inquiry into the conduct of Bournemouth’s Conservative council leader Cllr John Beesley is set to be published soon.

And there is speculation that the report will find the case against him not proven.

A draft report by solicitor Mark Heath has been sent to Cllr Beesley and the ten councillors who made a formal complaint about him back in 2017.

Once Mr Heath has received their feedback and comments, he will finalise the report. A council spokesman said: “Following receipt of the final report we will convene a standards board meeting at the earliest opportunity to consider its content, as is normal practice. The report will be available and in the public domain when the agenda for the standards board is published.”

The external investigator, Mr Heath, was appointed by the council’s monitoring officer Tanya Coulter.

The council has confirmed he has no connection with the authority or any of its officers.

The inquiry was triggered a few weeks ago following the ending of an 18-month police inquiry into Cllr Beesley’s business interests and whether he had properly declared them as a councillor. The Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to bring a charge.

The episode began in March 2017 when the council’s chief executive Tony Williams left his job, part way through his own investigations into Cllr Beesley’s private business interests as a hospitality consultant, and whether these caused a conflict of interest with his role as council leader or any damage to the council’s reputation. Both the police investigation and the Heath review were based on the letter of complaint submitted by 10 Conservative councillors to managing director Jane Portman that April.

The complaint alleged that Cllr Beesley had failed to properly make declarations of interests under the Localism Act 2011. It claimed he had also breached the code of conduct for the same reason, and also by:

  • trying to compromise the impartiality of officers
  • allowing his/her conduct or behaviour to bring disrepute on the council or compromising the council’s duty to promote and maintain high standards
  • using or attempting to use his/her position improperly for his/her or any other person’s gain or loss
  • bullying, harassing or intimidating other people.

Cllr Beesley has said he was not aware of any investigation by Mr Williams, and has denied any conflict of interest in his work for developers such as Quantum and Fresh Lime Developments. His declarations list him as: self-employed trading as a director of Hospitality Solutions, director of Yenton Hotel Ltd and non-executive director (unpaid) of Platinum Skies Living Ltd (resigned July 2018).