Doncaster councillor reprimanded after “rude” and “inappropriate” comments towards female colleagues

Parish councillor Michael Glynn, known as Mick, twice breached the code of conduct adopted by Hatfield Town Council on separate occasions in 2024 when he failed to treat fellow councillors and a council employee with respect.

In the first incident, on August 12, 2024, investigator Neil Concannon, head of litigation and regulatory and deputy monitoring officer, concluded Cllr Glynn attempted to “shame and humiliate” the former town clerk, Clare McRoy.

A complaint made by a member of the public stated Cllr Glynn arrived at a meeting of the Positive Action Group (PAG) with two others and identified himself as a town councillor.

During the meeting, where Ms McRoy was not in attendance, Cllr Glynn blamed slow progress on a community project on the town clerk before calling her “useless”, “ineffective” and “not very good” at her job.

Mr Concannon told the sub-committee hearing, which Cllr Glynn did not attend, that Cllr Glynn said he did not remember what words he’d used at the PAG meeting, but accepted the reported comments were some he could have used.

He then reportedly tried to justify his comments to Mr Concannon.

The investigation found Cllr Glynn had breached paragraph 1.2 of the code of conduct as he did not “treat local authority employees… with respect and respect the role they play”.

At a meeting of the parish council on October 14, 2024, referred to a “fractious” debate with female councillors as being like “loose women”.

The chair of the meeting, councillor Deborah Smith, informed Cllr Glynn his comment was “misogynistic” and he was told by another meeting attendee – believed by Mr Concannon to be the town clerk – that the comment was a breach of the code of conduct.

Mr Concannon told the sub-committee hearing: “Councillor Glynn stated that he felt some other Councillors/Town Clerk present at the meeting were interjecting and talking over each other and he could not get his point across.

“It does seem from the audio recording that there is some truth in those comments. However, that can not be an excuse to be anything less than respectful at all times.

“Looking at the matter objectively, I consider that the use of the term “Loose Women”, whether intended to cause offence or not, was an unnecessary use of inappropriate language, sarcasm and rude.

“If Councillor Glynn genuinely did not realise he had caused offence before, I cannot see how he did not realise that from the reaction to his comments. At that point he had the opportunity to draw back and apologise. However, instead it seems he aggravated the situation further by inviting the other female Councillor and the Town Clerk to report him.”

Mr Concannon concluded Cllr Glynn breached paragraph 1.1 of the code of conduct as he failed to “treat other councillors… with respect”.

He told the sub-committee Cllr Glynn “regrettably” did not respond to any requests for witness statements or to challenge the investigation report.

The City of Doncaster Council audit hearings sub-committee accepted the findings of an investigation by Mr Concannon, which concluded Cllr Glynn had breached the code of conduct.

Additionally, the sub-committee concluded Cllr Glynn also breached paragraph 8.2 of the code by failing to fully comply with the investigation and failing to attend the council hearing.

Sub-committee chair councillor Glenn Bluff said: “Councillor Mick Glynn shows an assertive and engaged manner as a member of Hatfield Town Council, with a strong inclination to challenge both staff and colleagues.

“Healthy challenge and robust debate are fundamental to our political system… While we do not want councillors to feel that they cannot express their honest views and be challenging, such behaviour must be tempered with respect for individuals.”

On top of the reprimand and written apologies to Cllr Smith and the town council, the sub-committee recommended to Hatfield Town Council that Cllr Glynn undertake training at the expense of the town council on the code of conduct and on “proper conduct in meetings”.