Tuesday 4 March 2014

A Public Notice - Is it legal?


A sharp-eyed reader has contacted me after reading a Carmarthenshire Council Public Notice in last week's Carmarthen Journal. It is an official Highway Order for a temporary speed restriction whilst the new school is being built in Ffairfach.

The 'sign off' in the Notice reads;

 "Mark James, Chief Executive, County Hall, Carmarthen DATED the 26th February, 2014"

Didn't Mr James stand down from his job on the 14th February 2014?

It raises a couple of questions; Why wasn't it withdrawn by the council before the Journal went to print?
And, is the Order legal? 

7 comments:

passerby said...

hahaha typical

to the layman would have thought no. david gilbert the acting chief executive's name should be there as his position is legal

Anonymous said...

Just a 'schoolboy error'!

Anonymous said...

Perhaps he's "working from home" and that's what "standind down" actually meant!

Anonymous said...

For goodness sake Welsh Assembly Government, can you not see what the public sees i.e. the tail that wags the dog?????

Anonymous said...

Its mine they have a Head of Law and a Monitoring Officer that will pick it up BEFORE it goes to press... ohh too late.

Prehaps they we're down the religious Bowling Alley or watching the County funded rugby team

Anonymous said...

I don't know whether the notice has legal standing. But I know of a QC who will undoubtedly tell you that it's fine. All you have to do is get the Exec to find several thousand pounds from their seemingly bottomless "get us out of the cack" fund, and all will be well.

Owen said...

This is an interesting one.

I don't know whether these things have to be manually signed off, but maybe there's a literal rubber stamp with CCC's seal on it that's used instead.

So anything stamped would be done in Mark James's name regardless of whether he's physically there or not. I suppose he's still, technically, the Chief Exec. in absentia.