One of the two Hadleigh town members that made comments about 'shooting' fellow councillors has finally made a public apology.

Cllr James Bayliss, along with fellow Hadleigh Together party member Richard Hinton made the comments at the end of a town council meeting held on Zoom in January.

The duo were found to have breached the Councillors Code of Conduct by Babergh's monitoring office that recommended they 'consider' publicly apologising to councillors, but neither did say sorry.

Hinton, a solicitor and volunteer with ISCRE, has now stepped down as a councillor and will not have to take any further action, although he has been referred to the professions regulatory body.

Members of the public, including former councillor Angela Wiltshire questioned whether Cllr Bayliss should apologise at a full council meeting and mayor Frank Minns said as Cllr Bayliss had considered apologising but had decided against it, he had indeed implied with the monitoring office's recommendation by considering it.

However, Cllr Bayliss contacted Nub News over the weekend to say he reconsidered his decision in light of the latest guidelines issued to councillors in the wake of the Southend MP David Amess' killing.

Cllr Bayliss said: "After taking some time to reflect on the comments I made last January I agree that they were unwise.

"I would like to take the opportunity to make a public apology (albeit a delayed one) and I will endeavour to act in a way expected of a councillor in the future."

The councillors guide define public intimidation as: "Words and/or behaviour intended or likely to block, influence or deter participation in public debate, or causing alarm or distress which could lead to an individual wanting to withdraw from public life".

"This includes discriminatory, physical, psychological and verbal actions such as: physical attacks; being stalked, followed or loitered around; threats of harm; distribution of misinformation; character assassination; inappropriate emails, letters, phone calls and communications on social media; sexual harassment or sexual assault; and other threatening behaviours."

Cllr Minns welcomed the apology and now hoped Cllr Bayliss will be able to focus on delivering Hadleigh's Neighbourhood Development Plan, who will eventually feed into Babergh's planning policy and form part of its design making process when considering development in the town.

"I am delighted that James has been able to respond in the way that he has," said Cllr Minnss. "I very much hope that with this out of the way, he can give his full attention to the really excellent work he has been leading to develop our neighbourhood plan.

"His enthusiasm for this project has breathed new life into an important part of the Town Council's work that has lacked impetus for too long."

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