REASON FOR RESIGNATION

Councillor Dave Maratos resigned from the Town Council on Tuesday, the 15th of this month, following a Special Meeting on the Monday; at this meeting Cllr Maratos felt he was castigated by Councillor Chris Perry for being a landlord of properties in Colwyn Bay, this followed a question I asked in relation to Landlords being offered free refurbishments if they then took-in people on the homeless list. Councillor Perry accused me of asking the question on behalf of Councillor Maratos, which was not the case, the question was actually given to me by a lady who was in the Chamber but, being a member of the public, could not ask the question herself. Cllr Perry was, in fact, making an unfounded allegation about my question and, surprisingly, was not pulled up by the Mayor for his actions.
The argument escalated after I had left the Town Hall and Cllr Perry further verbally accused Cllr Maratos of matters relating to properties in Colwyn Bay and Manchester, apparently Cllr Perry accused Cllr Maratos of being a trouble causer and argued with him in relation to Social Services in Manchester
Councillor Maratos HAS told people he believed some unnamed properties were to be demolished, he was merely repeating what County Councillor Bob Squires had said in the Weekly News. Councillor Maratos had already been contacted by County Councillor Chris Hughes who told him to stop relaying the story because it wasn’t true and that Bob Squires had never said such a thing to the Weekly News or the Pioneer and that he, (Bob Squires) had received an apology from the Weekly News over his comments (this isn’t exactly true Cllr Squires received an apology because he never used the term “Benefit Underclass” and not for his comments on demolition). Councillor Hughes then, according to Cllr Maratos, undermined his standing in the community by spreading rumours that he, Cllr Maratos, didn’t know what he was talking about and, to use Cllr Hughes’s words, was just scaremongering. These actions by Cllr Hughes turned public opinion against Cllr Maratos and he found himself and his family subject to harassment from local residents including eggs been thrown at his windows, dog dirt been thrown on his doorstep and malicious texts been sent. The Police were informed and have had to speak to people about their future behaviour.
Councillor Maratos feels he was victimised by Councillor Chris Hughes’s actions and that he has been forced to resign for his and his family’s safety.
Here is what Councillor Bob Squires said to the Weekly News....

“There is a master plan being discussed as part of the regeneration and it will be include major proposals for demolition for some of these properties. Conwy County Council will resist future bedsits, the policy will be dead against it. We will formally resist houses of multiple accommodation, and reduce them and therefore some of the undesirable types that live there.”

And here is the apology published by the Weekly News...

*ON the Letters Page of last week’s Weekly News we ran a headline saying "Councillor’s ‘underclass’ comments spur debate".
This implied Cllr Bob Squire had used the term in relation to people in Colwyn Bay.
This was not the case, and Mr Squire has not used this term in the past.
The term ‘benefits underclass’ was actually from a report from the Welsh Assembly.
We are happy to clear up any misunderstanding this may have caused.

Councillor Maratos, in my opinion, was only saying what he had read a County Councillor say in the papers, the fact that the Council and Councillor Chris Hughes did not want it further publicised is a different matter entirely, if what Councillor Maratos alleges is true, and I have no reason to doubt him as I am in receipt of some emails sent out by Cllr Hughes, then there is certainly a case for the Standards Board to investigate the actions perpetrated by Councillor Hughes who, for too long now, seems to be getting away with some very strange behavior.