A Morningside councillor says she rejects the decision of the Standards Commission to censure her, announced after a hearing last week.
The hearing found that she had breached the Councillor’s Code of Conduct.
Councillor Marie-Clair Munro, a Scottish Conservative who represents the Morningside ward, was found by the Standards Commission to have failed to disclose a non-financial interest at a committee meeting on whether to implement traffic calming measures on the Braids Estate.
She was also found to have attended a workshop related to the matter, known as the “Quiet Route”.
The Standards Commission heard at a panel meeting in the City Chambers that at the time of both meetings Cllr Neil Ross – who was also censured – lived on a parallel road to the Quiet Route, and Cllr Munro lived on the road itself – even though it was on a part which was not part of the redesign.
The panel said it was satisfied that a connection existed between the two councillors and the Quiet Route which was being discussed.
However, Cllr Munro disputed the decision of the Standards Commission.
Cllr Munro said: “I gained no financial advantage whatsoever from this decision, as the Standards Commission recognise.
“The investigation originally claimed that I lived within the Braid Estate. This was incorrect, and the lead investigator apologised for that error during the meeting.
“Despite this, the same reasoning was then applied to my actual residence on the Quiet Route, which is entirely different from the Braid Estate layout. At no point did I receive any personal or financial benefit from the Quiet Route scheme.”
Cllr Munro is standing for the Holyrood seat of Edinburgh Southern currently held by Scottish Labour MSP Daniel Johnson in May’s Scottish Parliament elections.
When asked on Friday whether he would reconsider his decision to let her stand, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay responded that he “didn’t know anything about this” and requested that the party’s press office be contacted.
