The leader of Lichfield District Council has said he does not need to apologise to residents after being found to have used his official email address to rent out his private holiday home.
Cllr Mike Wilcox was found to have used his official local authority address on a website promoting the rental property in Menorca.
He was subsequently issued with a warning by Lichfield District Council.
But at a meeting this week he insisted he had already made amends.
“I do not feel that this minor infringement requires any further apology than the one I have already issued to the council,” he said.
“I can confirm that following my warning for this breach of policy I apologised to our head of legal services for this infringement.
“I stated that at the time back in 2011 a web page was created which should not have quoted my council email address alongside my personal email details, which I did not at the time realise was a breach of policy.
“The page has remained dormant since 2011 and I was only reminded of this by a tweet appearing on a local social media platform recently. Once I was made aware of this, the site was suspended and I am endeavouring to get the page removed.
“Out of interest, the property is now not advertised for rental anywhere as far as I am aware.”
Cllr Sue Woodward, leader of the Labour opposition group at Lichfield District Council, said her counterpart showed his contempt for local taxpayers by refusing to say sorry to them when pressed at the meeting.
“It’s a pity really that Cllr Wilcox didn’t apologise to all concerned,” she said.
“An apology costs nothing but backing off from one seems to me to show a lack of concern about what the public thinks and doesn’t really lead by example.”
