The leader of the Isle of Wight Council has said he is not expecting “any resignations” at “any level” relating to last week’s Penn report.
Councillor Phil Jordan, who heads up the Alliance group, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) no resignations had been tendered connected to Richard Penn’s review which described County Hall as ‘dysfunctional’.
However, he said he is expecting “improved behaviour” from “certain councillors”.
Read more about the Penn Report
Mr Penn’s 31-page ‘Governance at the Isle of Wight Council’ report flagged ‘inappropriate’ councillor behaviour and also contained criticisms of the local authority’s officers.
Government concerned with councillors’ behaviour
Alongside the report’s release, it emerged last week that the government is ‘concerned’ with member behaviour, with a letter from Whitehall to the council warning of ‘further action’ without ‘additional assurance’.
Councillor Jordan said,
“There are no current (top level) resignations at County Hall that are related in any way, shape or form with the Richard Penn report.
“Neither am I expecting any resignations, at any level, related to the report. I am, however, expecting improved behaviour from certain councillors that are referenced in the report especially as we implement all of the recommendations and actions required to address the issues we have experienced previously.”
In a joint statement with the leaders of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups, he previously pledged to ensure the council “operates properly” and said it was “abundantly clear” there are problems.
Penn: Policies and procedures ‘forgotten’ or ‘ignored’
The Penn report said policies and procedures meant to provide ‘checks and balances’ on the behaviour of members and officers are ‘all too often ignored’ or ‘forgotten’.
Mr Penn, a former Commissioner for Standards at the Welsh Assembly, wrote,
“The council has well written and comprehensive policies and procedures that theoretically provide robust checks and balances on the behaviour of members and officers.
“These documents give clear and unambiguous advice about what is required and all major on one word – ‘respect’ – but it appears that these policies and procedures are all too often ignored or forgotten and rarely if ever used to deal with inappropriate behaviour by members.
“Members are required to behave in accordance with the Councillors’ Code of Conduct as they formally commit to that when making their Declaration of Acceptance following their election – but this seems all too often to be disregarded by some councillors.
“I attended a couple of full council meetings and viewed some committee meetings when they were webcast, and not only was the behaviour of some members a potential clear breach…but there was no attempt by the other councillors – or indeed council officers – present at the meeting to challenge the behaviour.
“This leaves the chair of the meeting with the unenviable task of trying to calm down a very heated atmosphere, an unfair expectation of one councillor acting alone.”
The Penn report is due to be presented to full council on Wednesday evening (19th November 2025).
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
