MULLANEY’S U-TURN APPEAL OVER BAN

26-03-2008

Birmingham councillor Martin Mullaney has decided to appeal against a month’s suspension for trespassing and showing disrespect to one of his constituents.

As regular readers will know, last year Mullaney posted a youtube video filmed by another councillor Ernie Hendricks, with the aim of highlighting the deterioration of the Grade II listed tram depot in Balsall Heath.

During the course of the “shoot” they were interrupted by the building’s owner Mr Safdar Zaman, who ordered them to leave his land – and then complained to the local government standards board.

Earlier this month, they found against Mullaney and Hendricks who were then given the option of saying sorry or serving a four week ban.

Hendricks resigned himself to missing out on Council business from the outset, but Mullaney has done a U-turn after originally saying that he would apologise.

“What turned it for me was seeing the letter that was drafted for me by the Council’s Legal Officer Mirza Ahmad” he said.

“It just went further than I was prepared to go.”

Mullaney also believes that the extent to which he and Hendricks trespassed has been exaggerated, and that he has strong grounds for an appeal.

To see the letter of apology that Mullaney refused to sign click here (pdf file)