Should Petra Jackson, Scarborough Borough Council (SBC) Governance and Performance Manager be awarded the “Most Evasive Public Servant of The Year” award?

On her LinkedIn profile, she will not even show her face. Yet this pales into insignificance compared to a phone call she had with me on Thursday 19 December. This was after I finally received a reply to my complaint in relation to the SBC Recording Notices Breaching Legislation (click on the link to read) and personally removed the unlawful notices (click on the link to read).

The conduct of Petra was evasive and pushy and totally inappropriate in a public-facing Officer. It demonstrated major failures in systems and processes at SBC. These include:

1. Failure to deal with a complaint at Stage 1 of the SBC Complaints Procedure;
2. An attempt to push the complainant to Stage 2 at the earliest opportunity;
3. A waste of resources by not doing the job right the first time;
4. Employing a qualified Solicitor and Director of Legal, Lisa Dixon who has demonstrated no understanding of the relevant legislation;
5. Customer-facing officers must be given training in how to deal with customers.

Ironically, the Government Guidance supports my complaint as it states:

“There are no powers prohibiting the taking of photographs, film or digital images in a public place. Therefore members of the public and press should not be prevented from doing so”.

Misleading Notices – Removed And Replaced

On Christmas Eve, SBC did a U-Turn and stated:

“I do take on board that the signage that was in place may be misleading, and this has now been replaced.”

SBC failed to send copies to me of the new notices. This will now require an FOI request to elicit them. Surely SBC is not intent on being unhelpful and wasting resources?

Sadly SBC made further false statements that directly oppose the position stated in “ACPO 2010 Statement Condemns SBC Conduct” (click on the link to read):

1. “We are satisfied with the position taken by the Council in respect of the overt recording of Council meetings.”
2. “The Council has a duty to ensure that the privacy of private individuals who attend Council meetings is protected, as is their right not be filmed if they object.”

Freedom of Information Request – New Notices

Under the FOI Act, I have requested copies of the new notices.

Formal Complaint – Petra Jackson

I have submitted a formal complaint against Petra Jackson for her evasive and pushy conduct towards me.

Petra Jackson – Evasive or What

In the public interest, I publish the full unedited recording to the Court of Public Opinion.

As SBC is clearly in a state of disfunction, I would politely suggest to SBC Chief Executive Mike Greene that it is time to get a grip before it gets any worse. I would suggest that his future career may depend on it.

I am willing to meet with Mike and fellow campaigners to assist him in the Himilayan task he has taken on.