Kingston Council has blocked a Liberal Democrat motion calling for Councillor Kevin Davis to resign as council leader or quit his job at the communications company he co-founded.
The party had wanted to ask Coun Davis to either step down as leader or resign as chief operating officer of Cratus Communications, severing all links with the company, at next week’s full council meeting.
The motion did not specifically accuse Coun Davis of using his council position to help clients of Cratus, nor offer any evidence of such. But in a reply made public by the Lib Dems, Andrew Bessant, head of corporate governance at Kingston Council, said he had "some concerns" about publishing the motion, citing a possible defamation claim from Cratus.
Before Coun Davies was elected in May 2014, Cratus worked on several high-profile planning applications in the borough.
Previous clients have included CNM Estates, Where Cratus helped present plans for the old Gala Bingo hall, and Amro, the company behind the student flats at 1, Penryhn Road. It also worked with Hydro Properties and Cascina during the companies bid to build a £30m floating homes scheme on the Seething Wells filter beds in Surbiton. When Coun Davis became leader last year he told the Surrey Comet his company would no longer take any PR clients in Kingston to avoid conflicts of interest.
Figures submitted by Cratus last week showed the company had a net deficit of £66,641 from the period February 2013 to January 31, 2014.
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