Fylde councillor Cheryl Little removed from tourism and leisure committee after breaching Code of Conduct

Coun Cheryl Little, a former chairman of the tourism and leisure committee, a councillor since 2007 and deputy mayor in 2021-22, was alleged to have failed to declare a personal interest at a council meeting in March last year in relation to a proposed catering facility within her Fairhaven ward.

The personal interest arose because Coun Little had a close association with an unnamed person who was to have been the operator of the facility.

Coun Little was alleged “to have closer personal ties when they stood together in the same ward” and to have also invited the person concerned “as her personal guest to a Mayoral event”.

Fylde Council’s Audit and Standards Committee noted that Coun Little felt that she did not have a close association with the person concerned, but the Committee agreed with the investigator that the question of a close association had to be decided in line with how the matter would be perceived by a reasonable member of the public.

The Committee noted that Coun Little did not intend to breach the code, so the breach was therefore down to “some measure of carelessness, rather than deliberate calculation”.

But the Committee recommended that Coun Little’s political group, the Conservatives, remove her as a member of the tourism and leisure committee until it is discontinued in the new municipal year.

"This would emphasise that the Committee takes seriously the duty of councillors to uphold the Code, while allowing Coun Little to return to such roles as are allocated to her as a councillor within a reasonable time,” said the Committee’s report.

Fylde Council leader Coun Karen Buckley said: "Coun Little failed to declare a personal interest at the council meeting, believing there was no need. The Audit and Standards Committee accepted that Coun Little did not deliberately breach the code of conduct but should have given thought to how her personal connections were perceived by the general public.

"For this reason, I have accepted Coun Little's resignation from the tourism and leisure Committee with immediate effect."

Coun Little could not be contacted for comment.