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Update 4 November

The extent to which the council will discuss the findings of the Ombudsman's report on the Breckman case can be guessed at from its response to calls for a public inquiry into the county's planning department. A council press officer told the Carmarthen Journal that an inquiry would be a "waste of time and money" (see report here).

The council clearly views the Ombudsman's investigations as an annoying intrusion, and the contempt with which his damning report on the Breckman case has been treated echoes responses to previous critical reports:

• Report on Mr M, the disabled man who waited for three years for the council to put in a ramp and other adjustments to help him with his wheelchair: "the family should not have been re-housed, but left in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation".
• Report on Delyth Jenkins and Sally, the young woman who was abused in a council day centre: "Sally can't wait to get back to the centre. It is time to draw a line under this".

For details of other items which will not be up for discussion at this week's meeting of the full council, see Caebrwyn's round-up here.

Caebrwyn also carries a piece on the Ombudsman's latest report criticising the council, this time relating to the appalling treatment meted out to a severely autistic girl and her parents.

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On 16 October BBC Wales broadcast an edition of Week In Week Out which looked at the Breckman case and the extraordinary failings it highlighted about the way in which the case was handled by Carmarthenshire County Council in particular.

What was particularly shocking about the story was the way in which the council turned a blind eye to problems which were obvious to everybody else, including a planning inspector, allowed the dispute to fester for years and then began what amounted to persecution of the victims.

When he delivered his report, the Ombudsman for Public Services asked the authority to provide councillors with copies of the report within three months. Shortly before the deadline, the council asked for a two week extension, and that extension lapsed around the time that the programme was broadcast.

Following the broadcast, the leader of the opposition group on the council, Peter Hughes Griffiths (Plaid Cymru) said,

The next meeting of the council is scheduled for 7 November, and the report has not been tabled by the Chief Executive Officer, who determines the agenda.

It seems that because the Ombudsman did not specify that the report should be provided to all councillors, the Chief Executive has decided to submit it instead only to the Executive Board (i.e. cabinet) and the Chair of the Planning Committee, some of whom were responsible for allowing the scandal to develop in the first place. And all are politically safe pairs of hands who can be relied upon not to kick up a fuss.

Hell may freeze over before our elected councillors are given an opportunity to read and discuss the report.