Councillor breached standards with Facebook posts

An independent standards hearing has found a Lancashire councillor breached the council's code of conduct on three occasions by making false statements about colleagues.

David Heap, who was elected for the Baxenden ward in Hyndburn following a by-election in February 2025, faced complaints relating to a series of social media posts and public comments.

Deputy leader councillor Melissa Fisher told the hearing claims made by Conservative councillor Heap about her and her family had caused "considerable stress and anxiety".

Heap, who did not attend the hearing, said he rejected the findings and would not apologise.

The issue stemmed from a single mistaken declaration of interest during a full council meeting at the tail end of 2025, that discussed a later-approved measure to ban HMOs in certain parts of the borough.

Fisher had declared that her husband owned one of these properties, when in fact it was just a normal rental occupied by two people.

This mistake was then corrected at the next meeting, but Heap continued to say that she "brazenly" owned multiple houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

The deputy leader's colleague, councillor Jodi Clements told the committee about a house renovation in Clayton-le-Moors that Heap had identified as an HMO in multiple posts, which she said was "inflaming hate in our community" pointing out that "there were people commenting threatening arson," and leaving fire emojis.

The alleged breaches were summarised into four main points: the false comments about Fisher, a cartoon that was shared about the cabinet in the council chamber, misrepresentations about whether public questions can be asked during meetings, and public comments about the continuing standards investigation into his actions.

The standards committee found Heap to have breached the council's code of conduct in relation to three of the complaints.

Members agreed that Fisher had corrected the record on HMOs in November, when Heap was present, and when it was explained again in January – where he was asked to withdraw his remarks.

They also ruled that the council did permit public questions, with longstanding rules requiring they be submitted through a councillor.

They agreed unanimously that his public comments about the investigation into these complaints made on social media also constituted a breach of the council's code of conduct.

They also all agreed a cartoon shared by Heap had not broken the rules, but was "disrespectful" to his council colleagues.

Heap was asked to make a public apology regarding statements about the HMO ownership and was recommended to take more training, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

In a statement, Heap said we would "absolutely not" apologise.

"I was elected to represent the people of Hyndburn, not to protect those in power from scrutiny," he said.

"It is an honour to represent you, and while I have your support, I will never stop standing up for the people of Hyndburn."

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