When former, and now disgraced, Tavistock North Conservative Councillor Darren Lake posted on his Facebook page that he thought ‘all blind people should be offered sexual free relief by the government’ he could not have foreseen the problems his actions would end up creating for either himself or the party.

Ironically, however, it was not this particular remark that ultimately brought about his political downfall for when the Standards Committee met to consider the evidence against him they actually found him not guilty of breaking the Code that specifically relates to discrimination against the disabled.

So, then what exactly was the train of events that led to his resignation?

To fully understand how offensive Darren Lakes’ comment regarding sex for the blind is you really have to be the parent of a disabled child who is blind. – which, incidentally, is exactly the background to the original Complainant.

His daughter, a Tavistock North resident, requires assistive technology to access the Internet as well as all social-networking websites. Back in May 2011 she tried to establish social contact with Darren Lake via his personal Facebook page but became concerned by numerous postings of a grossly offensive nature that Mr Lake, under the guise of being an employee of West Devon Borough Council, had posted.

Her father, a local businessman based in Tavistock North, approached me regarding the material his daughter had been exposed to and having reviewed it for myself I was concerned enough by it to contact the Chief Executive of South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council Richard Sheard directly.

Very soon after my approach to Richard Sheard the offending Facebook page was closed down and the repugnant material was removed from public view.

It was, however, a little like bolting the stable door after the horse had scarpered – a metaphor that is evidently not without some truth as it later emerged that upon his acceptance as a prospective candidate for the May 2011 election Darren Lake was explicitly advised by the local Conservative Party to lock down the security settings on his Facebook pages.

Had they seen at that time the content of Mr Lakes’ Facebook page for themselves and were concerned themselves that his comments should not be made public?

Anyway, by this time the now elected Darren Lakes’ Facebook disaster had been seen by other members of the Tavistock North community. News quickly spread that the young man who local Conservatives had been  presenting to them on their doorsteps during the canvassing period of that lead up to last Mays’ local elections had a much darker and altogether throughly more unpleasant aspect to his personality.

So then, what exactly did those local residents read and see on the offending Facebook pages that created such a stir?

The Evidence

Whilst Darren Lake failed to make any useful addition to the benefit of the local electorate he did succeed quite successfully in offending nearly every section of the local community during his short period in office.

Over an 18 month period Darren Lake posted no less than 35 offensive remarks starting with a comment that invites illegal sexual intercourse to an admission that he was wandering around Tavistock Town Centre late at night in an inebriated state.

Between these two submissions he viscously directed his copious Facebook comments towards every vulnerable section of society. These were scattered with references to personal sexual liaisons, included numerous uses of the ‘F’ word, several racist comments directed at overseas residents and even some that were specifically aimed at the elderly and less-mobile members of our local community.

In addition Mr Lake let rip with his skewed opinions on successful sportsmen and celebrities using terminology that would not be tolerated on any sporting field as well as comments that attacked students who were exercising their democratic rights following the increase of tuition fees as well as endorsements of police brutality.

All of this material and more was gathered as evidence in the WDBC Hearing in an investigation that will inevitably have cost the local taxpayers thousands of pounds to carry out.

Increasing Concern Over Commitment

In the official statement put out by Darren Lake regarding his resignation (Source: Tavistock Times February 16th 2012) he cited pressure of work for the reason he was unable to continue his duties as a Councillor. To many of us who had, since his election to office back in May 2011, tried to draw the Councillors’ attention to several important local issues but had not received even the courtesy of a reply to our emails this excuse holds some degree of credence.

However, what Mr Lakes newspaper statement did not include, was any formal apology to the people of Tavistock for having let them down as a Councillor so badly. It did not even include the slightest impression that there was any sense of contrition on his part for his misdemeanours.

Did Darren Lake do the honourable thing by resigning his position or was he pushed out by a party some of whose members were honestly and quite justifiably outraged by his litany of highly offensive verbiage?

Having seen the offending material I believe that the latter was by far the more likely scenario.

The Political Fallout

To many people in the local community Mr Lakes’ resignation was whole-heartedly welcomed. Along with this was the feeling that West Devon Borough Council had in fact applied the strongest possible sanctions to Councillor Lake as a reminder that everyone – no matter what political persuasion, that at a local level at least we expect that the people that we elect to represent us behave with some dignity and respect for their electorate. During his mercifully short time in office Councillor Lake displayed neither for which he paid the price.

ex-Cllr Darren Lake

The resignation of ex-Conservative Councillor Darren Lake on the 6th February 2012 followed a nine-month investigation by the WDBC Standards Committee into his personal conduct before and after his election to public office in May 2011.

The Hearing that was held into his conduct took place at Kilworthy Park on the 2nd February 2012. This meeting had been convened to consider evidence brought forward by the Investigating Officer regarding the presentation of Mr Lake by himself on the social networking site Facebook. This had followed an extensive investigation by the officer into a complaint made against Cllr. Lake by a Tavistock North resident soon after the Tories won a landslide in the Ward.

The Code of Conduct, which Cllr Lake was deemed to have breached, is an official outline detailing the way that WDBC expects all Councillor to behave and conduct themselves whilst in office. The Standards Committee met to consider whether Mr Lake had been in breach of three sections of this code, namely:-

• Paragraph 3 (1) – treating others with respect
• Paragraph 3 (2) (a) – complying with the Equality Laws
• Paragraph 5 – bringing the office of Councillor into disrepute

At the meeting of the Hearing Committee members of all political parties met to consider the evidence and to allow Cllr Lake to present his case. The Committee then decided that Cllr Lake had been in breach of two out of the three sections of the Code of Conduct – namely not treating others with respect and bringing the office of Councillor into disrepute.

The sanctions imposed upon him by the Committee were that he should personally apologise to the Council at their next meeting, write a letter of apology to the complainant and to receive additional training by the Council into his responsibilities as a Councillor.

The Committee also decided that the misdemeanour merited the suspension of Cllr Lake from his official duties for three months with the withdrawal of his expenses for the duration of this period. On the 7th February 2012 Councillor Lake tended his resignation and forced a re-election for the Tavistock North Ward on 22nd March 2012.

Tavistock North Ward is due to have a new election less than one year after the local elections of May 2011.

Following the resignation of the former Conservative Councillor Darren Lake Tavistock will be going to the polls again for the second time in a year on 22nd March 2012

The shock resignation of Mr Lake brings a very abrupt halt to the fledgling political career of Mr Darren Lake, aged 20, who is quoted as saying that he found the responsibilities of office difficult to meet.

Source: Tavistock Times Gazette

It would be interesting to learn whether DCC Members have taken similiar action apart from freezing allowances which was set by the previous adminitration.

In reducing their annual salary DCC Members would join the staff who have accepted annual salary reductions in retaining their employment.

The situation could now get worse in the move to shared services with South Hams. Here the Tories  after the local elections have now increased their numbers on the South Hams/West Devon group to forty nine seats of the seventy one available. With West Devon being the minor partner it may mean that most of the benefits will be taken up by South Hams. More seriously major cuts to services could now make their way to West Devon.