News / West of England Combined Authority
Former WECA chief exec warns of legal action against Norris
West of England mayor Dan Norris has been warned not to talk in public about his former chief executive again or face the threat of legal action.
In November the mayor went on to BBC’s Sunday Politics West programme to defend his running of the combined authority, which has come under fire from auditors and councillors, where he was asked about pay-offs and gagging orders.
The mayor, who has also been Labour MP for North East Somerset and Hanham since July, has been branded an “absentee landlord” by a member of the authority’s audit committee.
Norris, 64, is paid £91,346 as an MP and in excess of £93,000 for a reported 30-hour week as mayor, although Labour recently changed its rules, preventing him from standing again as mayor next May.
In October, Norris announced the return of the much talked about birthday bus scheme – photo: Hannah Massoudi
Asked by BBC interviewer David Garmston why there had been three authority chief executives since he was elected as mayor in May 2021, Norris said: “Well, we had one permanent chief executive, then there were issues about her.”
Former chief executive Patricia Greer, who had served the authority from its inception in 2017, left with a £219,000 golden handshake in August 2023 after spending about 10 months on leave of absence.
Greer told Bristol24/7: “Dan Norris’ comments about myself were incorrect and a complete misrepresentation of my reasons for leaving.
“I signed a confidentiality agreement . . . and have continued to both respect and abide by those terms.”
She warned Norris: “If there are further breaches of the confidentiality agreement and comments made which bring me into disrepute, which are again misrepresentations, then I will have no other choice but to respond to correct these to protect my professional reputation.”
Norris’s comments were all the more perplexing as he admitted on the programme that there were non-disclosure agreements signed with former staff. These are usually binding on both parties to any settlement.
He was asked by Garmston whether there had been any gagging orders – had “people had been asked to sign up to not saying anything?” Norris replied: “Yes, that’s part of the normal procedure.”
In September, the authority’s audit committee debated a damning investigation into the Birthday Bus wrap debacle, in which £10,000 of taxpayer cash was unlawfully spent on covering a double-decker bus with huge images of Norris and his spaniel, Angel, against government guidelines.
At the meeting Toby Simon, a Liberal Democrat councillor on Bath and North East Somerset Council, accused Norris of being “an absentee landlord who picks favourites in the office and can’t work effectively with stakeholders”.
The West of England Combined Authority consists of three councils: Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset.
Bristol24/7 has contacted WECA for a comment.
Main photos: WECA
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