'I will not be gagged' - Councillor vows over Coventry Airport comments
09.12.05
A rugby councillor reprimanded for derogatory and inappropriate 'Nazi' comments against Coventry Airport's PR consultants, has vowed - 'I will not be gagged.'
Councillor Ron Ravenhall has been censured by Rugby Borough Council's Standards Committee for bringing his office into disrepute. The move follows comments he made in a letter to a local newspaper in March 2004.
In the letter Councillor Ravenhall attacked a scheme by Coventry Airport's public relations consultants, claiming that a proposed competition for schoolchildren to name a plane should be called 'Stalag' or 'Blitzkrieg' - a reference to airport's German-based owners TUI.
Despite the ruling that his comments had broken the council's code of conduct, Councillor Ravenhall remains unrepentant. He said: 'You pick up these scars when you are in war I suppose. All's fair in love and politics, but this clampdown on free speech is ridiculous. These things happen in politics but it will have no effect on me - I will not be gagged.'
Councillor Ravenhall, Secretary of the Campaign Against the Expansion of Coventry Airport led opposition to the airport's expansion scheme, was also found to have overstepped the mark with comments he made in a radio interview a week after his letter was published. The committee ruled that, although his comments weren't racist, a member of the public could have considered that the owners were being compared to Nazis and the comments were both 'derogatory' and 'inappopriate.'
'To associate the owners with Nazis is ridiculous and was never my intention at all. In 1940 I lived in Holland and I remember the Blitzkrieg and my father was taken away to a Stalag. I know the true meaning of these words and they aren't Nazi words at all,' Councillor Ravenhall said.
The committee also ruled that Councillor Ravenhall had broken the Council's code by failing to disclose both a personal and prejudicial interests during two planning meetings last December, which discussed plans for the airport's expansion. Under council rules, officers are expected to declare any interests in matters under discussion at meetings.
Andrew Gabbitas, Director of Corporate Services and adviser to the council's Standards Committee, said Mr. Ravenhall risked a lengthy suspension if he continued to court controversy.
He said: 'Any complaints to the Standards Committee are dealt with on its merits, but previous indiscretions can affect the punishment given. The maximum suspension period at local level is three months, but the National Standards Committee can impose a sentence of five years, if they deem a complaint serious enough.'
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