“Councillor gets second chance to apologise

VETERAN councillor Frank Pennington has been given a second opportunity to apologise for comparing Frodsham Town Council to Hitler.
After initially refusing to apologise, Cllr Pennington sent a letter to the council in which he said: “If the name of Hitler has offended some people,  then I am very sorry.
“Having been born before the War and attending school in the War years I am old enough to know that the war time council of Frodsham Lordship and Township was far better than the present one.”
Cllr Fran Sutton said she could not accept the letter as any form of an apology. It was far too little and far too late and, really, was “a bit of an insult.”
Cllr Mike Pusey was in favour of accepting the apology. Knowing Cllr Pennington as he did, he realised it had taken real guts to write the letter.
Cllr Andrew Dawson said the letter only apologised for the use of the name of Hitler and not for comparing the council to the Second World War, which was also offensive.
After considering the letter, the council decided to ask the North Ward councillor to come forward with “a more whole-hearted apology.”
The saga started back in February when an angry Cllr Pennington said the council was “worse than the Second World War and Hitler.”
Subsequently Cllr Pennington refused to apologise and said he did not consider his remarks too strong.
He said it was the worst council he had known in the 39 years he had been on it.
At the council’s April meeting, a member of the public complained that the remark was offensive and called for an apology, or for action under the council’s code of conduct.
Members of the council’s policy and process committee later discussed the issue and decided that rather than press for sanctions against the councillor he should be asked to fully and unreservedly apologise for the language used and the offence it caused.
If he would not, they felt they had no choice but to recommend that Cllr Pennington be removed from all committees and working groups.
Cllr Pennington was not present at the full council meeting.