Fife councillor Andy Heer suspended over sharing confidential information

The Standards Commission for Scotland (SCS) heard that Conservative Andy Heer released sensitive information from board papers of Fife Resource Services, Fife Council’s arms-length waste management partnership, in social media posts and press releases on May 20 this year.

Cllr Heer said he was “maybe a little bit careless” in his wording of a post on social media in which he said he had “spoken to” Fife environmental chiefs about plans for re-opening recycling centres in the Kingdom in the summer post-lockdown, when in fact no plans had been formally agreed and the information had been disclosed at a confidential meeting.

In a post on the Facebook group Kettle A Village Life, Cllr Heer said he was “sorry to be the bearer of bad news” that local recycling sites at Cupar and Lower Melville Wood would be among the last to open in Fife, before promising that further information would be published in due course.

Hours earlier, he had agreed with other FRS board members in a private meeting that a clear communication strategy was required across the region to ensure a smooth re-opening of waste facilities.

And at 8am on May 20, two hours before the meeting, Cllr Heer also authored a press release in which he said he had been “told” that an online booking system was being readied for Fife recycling centres to cope with post-lockdown demand – another item discussed behind closed doors that day.

Cllr Heer was appointed as a board member of FRS and a director of Sustainability Fife Limited (SFL), a controlling partner in the partnership, in June 2017. He has since resigned from the board.

The hearing, held on Wednesday, took evidence from Councillors Jan Wincott (Scottish Labour, Glenrothes North, Leslie and Markinch) and David Barratt (SNP, Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay), chair and vice-chair of FRS respectively, as well as chief operating officer Robin Baird.

Councillor Wincott, who filed a complaint against Cllr Heer with the Ethical Standards Commissioner on May 23, described feeling “flabbergasted, very shocked and upset” when she learned of the councillor’s post online, adding that while board papers were not marked as confidential, there was an understanding that their contents were not to be shared.

“They were for board discussion only – they’re not for public discussion as other council committee papers are,” she said.

“We had to wear two hats. We were not councillors (at the meetings). That should be left at the door.

“It was all extremely sensitive. There were a lot of employees affected and quite frankly I couldn’t believe it (Cllr Heer’s post).

“I didn’t believe anbody could be in any doubt at the direction the communication needed to take.”

Dr Kirsty J Hood QC, for the Ethical Standards Commissioner, said Cllr Heer had conflated his role as a councillor with that of a board member of FRS and a director of SFL, and suggested his “zeal as a campaigning councillor for his constituents” had fuelled the decision to release the information.

But Cllr Heer, who represented himself, maintained throughout he was acting in “the best interests” of FRS by disclosing the information, particularly as Lower Melville Wood landfill site has proven contentious among locals due to its issue with bad smells.

The 67-year-old told the panel he had quit his work in IT to focus on his role as a “full-time, seven days a week” councillor and had been the victim of a stitch-up at the hands of Councillor Wincott.

Handing down the sanction suspending the councillor from all full council meetings in January and February, Prof Dunion said: “The requirement for councillors to abide by the rules of any partner organisations is an important part of the code.

“The panel was concerned that the respondent (Cllr Heer) did not recognise this was not in the best interests of FRS. He appeared to have acted in the interests of his party and his role as a councillor.”

Cllr Heer has the right to appeal the decision to the sheriff principal of Tayside, Central and Fife.

Following the meeting, he said: “I’m disappointed but I accept the Standards Commission’s findings and will continue to represent my constituents.

“This has taken months of paperwork backwards, and forward, and with a QC employed it seems a waste of taxpayers’ money and a very heavy-handed way of dealing with this.”