A report has found he also ‘failed to treat others with respect’
The pavilion and car park where the meeting took place(Image: Google Earth)
A Leicestershire parish councillor bullied and failed to “treat others with respect”, a report has found.
Councillor Paul Taylor was found to be in breach of the Sapcote Parish Council’s (SPC) code of conduct following a row between him and fellow parish councillor, Cllr Laura Badland.
A hearing panel of Blaby District Council (BDC) heard the row in November last year followed a complaint from Cllr Badland over a post made by Cllr Taylor on the ‘Sapcote News’ Facebook page. In that, he had seen a white van in the area and described the passengers as “foreign”.
The BDC report heard that following this post, an online exchange between the councillors broke out and was then followed up at the Sapcote Parish Council meeting in December 2024. Cllr Badland alleged that Cllr Taylor’s behaviour towards her both during the meeting and immediately after in the car park, was “aggressive” and “intimidating” and that she was scared for her personal safety.
The report heard allegations that Cllr Taylor confronted her about her criticism of him on the ‘Sapcote News’ page.
Documents note Paul Taylor is a parish councillor on SPC and “has been for a number of years”. At the time of submitting the complaint Laura Badland was a councillor on SPC, however she resigned her position during the course of this investigation, they add.
During the investigation, Cllr Badland claimed on the night of the alleged car park incident that Cllr Taylor “came out of his car” and came “charging” towards her, waving his hands and pointing at her. She said that his behaviour was “very personal and overwhelming and scary”.
Sapcote Parish Councillor Paul Taylor(Image: Sapcote Parish Council)
Cllr Taylor declined to be interviewed as part of the investigation, but did provide comment, the report said.
In this, he claimed Cllr Badland had been confrontational too. He said : “This is an absolute joke she got confrontational in a message that I had warned people of the village about a suspicious van driving round the village.
“She had a go at me in the meeting and I was waiting for my windows to clear on my van when she appeared outside with the clerk and chairman present. All I said to her was to keep out of my business and she replied ‘freedom of speech I’ll do what I want’.
“All I did was warn people of the village about a suspicious van it had nothing to do with her it’s just a gang thing with the idiots we have on the council at the moment I’m being maid (sic) out to be the baddy here yet again ABSOLUTE JOKE”.
In its findings, BDC said Cllr Taylor had breached the parish council’s code of conduct three times – once for demonstrating bullying behaviour towards Cllr Badland and twice for failing to treat others with respect.
Ms Badland said the incident last December left her fearing “for her own safety”, and had led to her installing CCTV around her home.
She said: “I was scared to walk my kids to school and my dogs around the village. I felt anxious to go to the Co-op, for fear of bumping into the councillor.”
Ms Badland resigned after the incidents, saying: “I was completely heartbroken. I never wanted to leave the council, but I felt I had no other option.”
BDC made a number of recommendations to SPC in the wake of the incidents, including:
Cllr Taylor must send a written apology to Ms Badland within 14 days of the next Sapcote Parish Council meeting (at which this matter is to be discussed) for the disrespect, distress and intimidation shown to themWritten censure of Cllr Taylor by issuing of this decision notice to him by the monitoring officer on behalf of the standards committeeThat the findings of the panel be reported by the chair of the panel to Blaby District Council’s next full council meeting, with a recommendation for a motion of censure to be passedThat the monitoring officer arranges for training for Cllr Taylor on the code of conduct to enable him to better fulfil his role as a parish councillor
In a statement, SPC said: “Sapcote Parish Council remains committed to conducting all business with transparency and fairness at the forefront. The Parish Council will formally consider and vote upon the recommended sanctions as laid out by the Grievance and Standards committee at our next scheduled Parish Council meeting”.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service also wrote to Cllr Taylor for further comment, but had not heard back from him at the time of publication.
