A council chief who posted derogatory remarks on Facebook has apologised.
The Observer reported last week how an Oswaldtwistle resident complained to the council after Coun Clare Pritchard wrote on her private Facebook account that there were some ‘complete tossers’ in Oswaldtwistle.
The deputy council leader was cleared of any wrongdoing after Chris Brindle’s complaint.
The father-of-two, who lives on Roe Greave Road, believed the remarks were aimed at him and referred to an incident when Coun Pritchard was election canvassing, something Coun Pritchard denied.
In an open letter to the Observer Coun Pritchard apologised to anyone who may have been offended.
She said: “I can say in all honesty that the comment in question was a flippant one, and certainly not intended to cause insult or offence to anyone.
“Whilst I realise in hindsight that the comment would have been best avoided, I really meant nothing by it and had mistakenly thought that a comment that was made on a private Facebook page, would have remained private.
“My Facebook is my own private page and is not used by me as a councillor.
“At the time that the posting was put up, I thought little of it other than that it was a light hearted aside.
“I also removed the comment shortly after it had been posted.”
Mr Brindle, who works as a finance manager, said he was pleased to see Coun Pritchard issue a public apology.
He said: “As far as I am concerned all I really wanted to see was an acknowledgement that she had done something wrong and held her hands up.
“She made a mistake but it’s all been resolved now so let’s move on and put it behind us.
“I wish Coun Pritchard well.”
Miles Parkinson, the Labour leader of Hyndburn Council, said: “The council and the party have gone through the complaint, an apology has been issued and that is a satisfactory conclusion.”
