Council leader Ashley Baxter’s complaint against Coun Ben Green withdrawn after informal resolution councillors at loggerheads over blame

Rival councillors criticised a complaints investigation that leaves residents with a potential £7,000 bill.

A South Kesteven District Council hearing was cancelled last Friday (December 6) following the informal resolution of a complaint against Coun Ben Green (Con) by council leader Coun Ashley Baxter (Ind).

A solicitor's report found a social media post by Coun Green may have breached the councillor Code of Conduct once, but the complaints have now been withdrawn after several were posts deleted.

The withdrawal means the complaints will not go to committee or lead to punishment.

The report, including the monitoring officer’s decision notice and details of the the investigation by Wilkin Chapman solicitors, has now been published with both councillors’ permission.

It confirms the complaint by Coun Baxter included 14 allegations of derogatory comments, false statements about Coun Baxter and the administration and insulting remarks — one of which may have been a breach of the code, according to Wilkin Chapman’s investigation.

Coun Baxter had said the incidents were part of a pattern of personal abuse and brought the council into disrepute.

The monitoring officer concluded: “Both parties subsequently agreed to an informal resolution and the complaint was withdrawn by Coun Baxter.

“No further action will be taken in relation to this complaint.”

Wilkin Chapman said Coun Green failed to treat Coun Baxter with respect in one instance but did not engage in bullying or bring disrepute to the council.

In the report, Wilkin Chapman said the cost related to the time needed for a thorough report, reviewing all the evidence.

The breach in question related to a social media post made by Coun Green on February 9 2024, which included a video of Couns Baxter, Virginia Moran, and Phil Dilks speaking in support of the Mallard Pass Solar Farm.

Coun Baxter called the video 'misleading and dishonest’.

Wilkin Chapman said the video was edited to misrepresent comments made before the 2023 election — lacking context and key details and, as a result, breaching the code in terms of ‘respect’.

The Mallard Pass video remains online and has been shared by others.

Councillors previously complained about the costs of tackling complaints and sending them to external solicitors.

A Freedom of Information request revealed the bill for sending seven sets of complaints to Wilkin Chapman in 2024 was £47,550—an average of £6,792 per case.

The FOI showed that the most expensive had actually reached £13,225 while the least expensive was £3,780. It has not been confirmed which case was Coun Green’s.

Coun Green said he was “pleased” the report had been made public.

However, he labelled it a 'wasteful attempt to tarnish [his] reputation’, adding: “It’s taxpayers who have paid the price for this witch hunt.”

“Seven months of time and resources spent attempting to extort a public apology from me — one I was never going to give because I did nothing wrong — has been a clear abuse of power.”

He accused Coun Baxter of misusing taxpayer resources and called for his resignation.

Coun Baxter said his complaints resulted from frustration with Coun Green's behaviour since the Conservative Party lost control of South Kesteven District Council in May 2023.

Coun Baxter said the investigation overlooked Coun Green's pattern of behaviour and failed to treat his actions as breaches of the code.

He said he tried to resolve the issue nearly six months ago - which would have saved money - but this offer had not been taken up.

“In my opinion, the Wilkin Chapman investigation report was poorly conducted and fundamentally flawed,” he said.

He argued that while the report found Green's posts were "disrespectful" and "false," the solicitors did not classify most of his actions as breaches — a verdict he disputes.

“This is another reason why I vehemently disagreed with the findings of the final report even though it did state that, on at least one occasion, Coun Green had breached the council’s Code of Conduct,” he added.

Coun Baxter said his most recent attempt at reconciliation — offering to withdraw his complaint if Coun Green deleted some of the “most offensive posts” — was accepted.