“It’s a political attack on someone trying to make our roads safer”: Row erupts after “libellous accusations” aimed at cycling councillor for filming illegally parked drivers outside school – but Tory opponent says “double standards at play”

A row has erupted within Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP) council after a Conservative politician was reported for allegedly making “potentially libellous accusations” aimed at a pro-cycling Liberal Democrat opponent, who was criticised earlier this year for “inappropriately” filming motorists parking illegally outside a school.

That spat has prompted another Tory councillor to resign from the local authority’s standards committee, accusing it of “double standards” and “bias”, after earlier complaints made about Adrian Chapmanlaw’s video were dismissed, while criticising the cyclist once again for choosing to film outside a school.

However, Chapmanlaw insists he wasn’t working in his capacity as a councillor at the time of the video and “wasn’t doing anything wrong”, dismissing the criticism as a “political attack” and telling road.cc that, despite the ongoing public criticism of his actions, his “efforts to make the roads safer will continue”.

“Inappropriate behaviour”

Earlier this week, Duane Farr, a Conservative councillor for Kinson, announced that he was resigning from BCP Council’s standards committee, in an apparent act of support for colleague Cameron Adams after he was reported to the committee for a “very serious” social media comment made about Lib Dem councillor Chapmanlaw.

The report against Adams, which Farr claimed was merely in relation to his fellow Kinson representative’s complaint that Chapmanlaw’s decision to film law-breaking drivers outside a school was “inappropriate”, has been upheld and is currently being investigated by the committee.

In February, Chapmanlaw, who represents Alderney and Bourne Valley in the Lib Dem-controlled council, was heavily criticised for posting a video on his YouTube channel, ‘Dorset Safer Roads’, and later resharing it to a Facebook community group, which showed motorists parking on double yellow and zig zag lines, and a warden giving them tickets, outside a school at pick-up time.

The clip, one of almost 800 videos he’s uploaded to the channel over the years highlighting close passing, dangerous, or illegal drivers and captured on his helmet camera, was reported to the council’s standards committee, with Adams describing Chapmanlaw’s actions as “concerning”.

“No matter how noble his supposed cause, his behaviour is concerning,” the Conservative councillor said at the time of the video, which Chapmanlaw noted was “heavily blurred and identified no-one”.

Responding to criticism of the video, the Lib Dem councillor said in February: “Road safety is a huge concern for local parents, especially around schools. Residents tell me of near misses and incidents on an alarmingly regular basis.

“I have heard the concerns about the video, which was used to draw attention to dangerous road behaviour. 

“It was heavily blurred and identified no-one, but of course I regret any alarm caused. I would like to remind drivers that poor road behaviour is extremely dangerous and poses a very real risk.”

However, Adams argued that Chapmanlaw appears to have “absolutely no regard for the legitimate safeguarding concerns raised by myself and parents who challenged him”.

“And worse, he appeared to brush them off, which is absolutely shocking behaviour from an elected councillor,” he said.

A week later, BCP Council’s standards committee, of which Chapmanlaw is the vice-chair, announced that the Lib Dem councillor would face no action from the local authority for the video.

Janie Berry, director of law and governance and monitoring officer at the council, said that no evidence had been found that Chapmanlaw was “acting as a BCP councillor when he posted a video on a Facebook community group”, concluding that he was instead acting as a “private individual”.

“He chose to ride his bike there and film”

However, that decision was heavily criticised again this week, after it was revealed that Tory councillor Adams could face action for breaching the local authority’s code of conduct in relation to a comment about his Lib Dem counterpart, posted on Facebook, which Chapmanlaw says “insinuated something very serious”.

But despite the “potentially libellous” nature – according to Chapmanlaw – of Adams’ comments, he was defended by his colleague Farr, who resigned from the standards committee in protest at its perceived “double standards”, while also reiterating the claim that Chapmanlaw’s actions in February were inappropriate.

“Having experienced roughly a year as a member of Standards I find myself no longer able to support decisions being made and am resigning,” Farr wrote in his resignation letter.

“I simply cannot continue as a member of Standards when there are clear double standards at play. The Vice Chairman of the Standards Committee, Cllr Ade Chapmanlaw, has been repeatedly allowed to escape any complaints against him being investigated by the committee – including for inappropriately filming outside of a school.

“Contrast this to my ward colleague Cllr Cameron Adams, who was reported to the Standards Committee merely for complaining about that behaviour. The complaint against him is being upheld and investigated. The person whose behaviour in question is clearly being protected.”

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Referring to February’s video, Farr continued: “There seems to clearly be a bias towards Cllr Chapmanlaw. His excuse that he was acting in a private capacity when filming and therefore immune to the Council’s Standards complaints simply doesn’t ring true.

“He knew the BCP Council enforcement was going to be there, chose to ride his bike there and film as parents collected their children from school.

“This is not the first example of this councillor, and others affiliated with the ruling Lib Dem administration, being protected. This does not sit right with me and it doesn’t match the views of our residents. Natural justice needs to be seen to be done.”

Speaking to road.cc on Friday, Farr maintained his stance that Chapmanlaw receives “special treatment” due to his position as the committee’s vice chair.

“Complaints about him are not being looked at by the committee,” he told road.cc. “However, when complaints are submitted by Cllr Chapmanlaw himself and others against my ward colleague Cllr Cameron Adams, it is taken very seriously.

“I strongly believe in fairness, but it seems clear to me double standards are at play. I wouldn’t be surprised that since I have blown the whistle, Cllr Chapmanlaw will make a complaint about me, when all I want is for the complaints procedure to not be abused for political advantage.”

“My efforts to make the roads safer will continue”

In response to Farr’s comments, Chapmanlaw told road.cc that this latest criticism of his cycling videos was a politically motivated attack in retaliation for claims about former Conservative council leader Phil Broadhead, who earlier this month admitted claiming the single person discount for council tax despite not being eligible.

“Honestly this is beyond anything I have words for,” Chapmanlaw told road.cc. “It’s a political attack on someone trying to make our roads safer.

“It’s been ongoing for a while, from claims of breaching GDPR with videos of bad drivers to insinuating something very serious.

“This particular round is probably because I dared to suggest the local Tory group leader committed an actual criminal offence when he underpaid his council tax for an unknown but likely extended period of time.”

He continued: “I am a road safety campaigner, and I submit footage of bad drivers – taken from my dashcam, mobile phone, and bike cam – to Operation Snap. I also happen to be a Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole Councillor.

“This, as always, has been met with some criticism from a small number of (I assume bad) drivers in the area which has resulted in a small number of complaints to the Council’s Standards Committee.

“But, seeing as I’ve not been working in the role of a councillor at the time that I took or submitted the footage, and wasn’t doing anything wrong, all these complaints have been dismissed.

“My supposed crime? Filming bad drivers who park on zig zags at school pickup time, to submit to Dorset Police’s Operation Snap.

“Cllr Adams, according to his ward colleague Cllr Farr, has found to be in breach of the Code of Conduct – and though the details of the complaints against Cllr Adams have not been released yet, they go far beyond ‘merely complaining about that behaviour’, and involve potentially libellous accusations.

“Any decisions made by the Standards Committee are made by a cross-party committee consisting of one Conservative (the now-disgruntled Cllr Farr), one Christchurch Independent, two Liberal Democrats, one Green, and one Labour member, guided by two independent persons and in the presence of statutory officers.

“Whilst I am Vice-Chair of the Standards Committee, I took no part in the deliberations of complaints against Cllr Adams.

“Irrespective of Cllr Adams’ comments and Cllr Farr’s outburst in defence of his ward colleague, my efforts to make the roads safer will, needless to say, continue.”