An Aberdeen councillor has been cleared of any wrongdoing following allegations of a breach of the code of conduct.
Last month, Hazlehead, Queens Cross and Ashley Liberal Democrat Jennifer Stewart was accused by council finance convener Willie Young of sending “political” letters out with tax payer’s funds using the authority’s franking machine.
Mr Young said that the incident had come to light after one of the leaflets was returned to Marischal College care of Aberdeen City Council.
But Mrs Stewart said she has “every right” to send out informative letters, adding that the correspondence does not mention her party or ask anyone to vote for her.
She confirmed around 87 letters were posted regarding an access bridge between Eday Road and Queens Den but insisted the correspondence was purely to inform residents of progress.
The councillors’ code of conduct states: “The council will normally provide facilities to assist councillors in carrying out their duties as councillors or as holders of a particular office within the council.”
Now council legal officers have cleared the long-standing councillor of any wrongdoing following an investigation.
She said: “This is very much setting the record straight.
“All I was doing was keeping in touch with the residents about an issue that is close to them, which is something I have always done.
“The council on the legal side have said that there is no case to answer.
“I think councillor Young honestly brought this up because I had been speaking out so robustly about the Muse development (Marischal Square) at the last full council meeting.
“I want to spend my time focusing on the public to give them a voice. I don’t want to put my energies into political infighting.”
But last night Mr Young maintained that he was right to raise the concerns.
He said: “The reason I put this forward was because we have all as councillors been warned to be very careful when putting out letters.
“But now that we have an answer from our monitoring officer, I am certain that every new councillor elected in May will now receive extra instructions when it comes to sending out letters.”
