A Perthshire councillor will be referred to a standards commissioner allegedly admitting he has previously breached confidentiality rules.
SNP politicians say Liberal Democrat Lewis Simpson made the revelation in a botched email urging a member of the public to “harass” political opponent Eric Drysdale which was accidentally sent to the SNP councillor.
Now city centre councillor Mr Drysdale has said he is asking a top Scottish ombudsman to investigate Mr Simpson after being voted into a crucial planning role.
Strathmore councillor Lewis Simpson led the local review body for the first meeting of his second spell as convener at the beginning of the month.
However SNP members feel the comments he included in the bungled email about discussing private matters render him unfit for the position, which handles planning appeals.
It is understood the email was reported to council chief executive Karen Reid, and Mr Simpson was hauled before her and the council’s head of legal services in a videocall.
Mr Simpson issued a written apology to Mr Drysdale, and was warned about his conduct.
Mr Drysdale alleged that in the email he was mistakenly sent in September, Mr Simpson stated that he knew that advance discussions by elected members and regard for party allegiance is not technically allowed but said that in practice, there sometimes is discussion in advance.
In his email, the SNP allege Mr Simpson also stated that he may ask ‘colleagues’ to ask questions at planning and development management committee on his behalf.
Mr Drysdale said: “This appears to me to be totally inappropriate, in the same way that jurors and indeed the judiciary are forbidden to discuss cases or indeed be fed questions outside of formal court processes.
“Councillor Simpson has recently become convener of the LRB replacing my dear colleague Henry Anderson who so sadly passed away after Christmas due to Covid-19.
“The local review body is set up to review cases where members of the public wish to appeal against planning decisions made by officers and it is therefore obviously vital that there is full confidence in the convener.”
Mr Drysdale added that he plans to write to the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland to ask for an investigation into whether there has been a breach of the councillors’ code of conduct.
that there be an investigation as to whether Councillor Simpson has breached the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.”
Councillor Simpson, who has since apologised for sending the email, said that he has no intention of stepping down and says this is the latest attack in a “personal vendetta.”
He said: “This is yet another poor attempt by the SNP to discredit me following my reappointment as the convenor of the local review body following a recent council vote.
“My apology for a poor choice of one word last September had previously been made and accepted and in a meeting with senior council officers it was deemed that no further action was needed.
“This is now becoming an unsavoury personal vendetta.
“I understand that there has been no contact with senior council officers by SNP councillors to discuss any of the issues now mentioned.
“I find it ill advised that the SNP have now decided to disclose a partial incorrect quote from an email from me to a member of the public which when taken in isolation is deliberately misleading. This email had not previously been in the public domain.
“At a time when senior Perth and Kinross officials are fully committed to dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, it is ridiculous that the SNP expect them to have to deal with this matter.”