Another Code of Conduct complaint has been upheld against an Alderney politician who has failed to apologise for disclosing information linked to a mooted data centre in the island.
Alex Snowdon was already banned from the States of Alderney for three days – meaning he can’t attend the States meetings scheduled for October, November, or December.
He now can’t attend any meetings for 30 days as an additional sanction after failing to apologise, having been ordered to previously.
The Commissioner for Standards said she has upheld the latest complaint against Mr Snowdon because he “further breached Rule 15 by his deliberate and continuing refusal to comply with a binding determination and by his stated refusal to participate any further in this investigation”.
“I also find that his conduct is inconsistent with the overarching principles of accountability and leadership,” decided Melissa McCullough.
The latest complaint was made by former Alderney politician Robert McDowall, after Mr Snowdon failed to apologise following the previous Code of Conduct decision.
In his response to the latest complaint, Mr Snowdon highlighted links between Mr McDowall and others involved with the proposed data centre project.
Mr Snowdon has also reiterated that he has not refused to apologise but that he won’t apologise until matters around the data centre are dealt with officially.
“I would like to draw your attention to a letter I wrote to the Greffier copied to you dated 30 July 26,” wrote Mr Snowdon.
“In it I made the following statement: ‘With regard to the written apology to Stuart Clark, I am prepared to make one only after the alleged abuse of procedure that he is a party to has been addressed. That is to say, I will apologise after the tender process is postponed pending a proper risk assessment, environmental study, and a fit for purpose feasibility study based on those findings, followed by a full public consultation resulting in a public mandate to proceed. When all that is done, I will willingly apologise for any upset or offence I have caused him, but not before’.”
Mr Snowdon said the Code of Conduct dictates that “members must act in the public interest, be honest and transparent and keep the public informed”. He said the above is necessary to ensure the Code of Conduct is met.
Mr Snowdon has also reiterated that he believes the ongoing row concerning his conduct is “politically motivated”.
In a separate letter to the Commissioner for Standards he wrote that she is “politically siding with and enabling” the Chairs of the Policy and Finance and the General Services Committee who he believes are supportive of plans to build a data centre in the island.
“Their motives are very clear,” Mr Snowdon wrote.
“They want to fast track the Data Centre project through an expression of interest process toward the sale of a concession to build data centres on Alderney. They realise that the proposal from Stronghold, who will issue a declaration of interest and who will tender for and probably win any concession because that is the declared purpose of the company controlled by local interest, is dangerous to their plans. It will not pass public scrutiny or be agreed to by a majority of the public. They are attempting to keep as much detail from the pubic as they can for as long as possible by such questionable means as declaring a high level proposal as not a proposal and anyway inaccessible to the public because of an unsubstantiated confidentiality claim.
“This is clearly a fundamental departure from the whole of the Code of Conduct doctrine and process.”
Mr Snowdon said the judgments against him are “enabling them to do this and are preventing me from opposing them in the public interest”.
Being banned from attending and voting at States meetings until February 2027 means Mr Snowdon may miss crucial debates concerning the data centre.
He will also miss Alderney’s budget debate later this year, but he will be allowed to sit and vote in Guernsey’s budget debate and other States meetings as his ban only covers the States of Alderney.
