Wakefield Councillor reprimanded over e-mail which “negatively characterised” ethnic groups
A standards hearing ruled Olivia Rowley breached Wakefield Council’s code of conduct by “failing to treat others with respect”
Last updated 5th Feb 2026
One of Wakefield’s longest serving councillors has been reprimanded for bringing the local authority into disrepute over comments made in an e-mail which “negatively characterised individuals and ethnic groups.”
A standards hearing ruled Olivia Rowley breached Wakefield Council’s code of conduct by “failing to treat others with respect” and “failing to promote equality” following an investigation.
Coun Rowley, who represents Ossett ward, was suspended by the council’s Labour group for six months in September last year.
At the time, she was allowed to remain a member of the authority’s licensing committee and two scrutiny committees.
It is understood disciplinary action was taken following comments about a drive-by shooting which took place in Wakefield in August 2025.
Dale Stogden, 50, who was known as Brett, died after a shot was fired from a vehicle on Doncaster Road, on August 12.
Three men were later charged with murder and a fourth was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Coun Rowley’s comments are understood to have been included in an e-mail sent to a “wide number of recipients” after the incident, including other councillors and senior officers.
A standards sub-committee hearing was held on January 29 following a complaint that the language used in the message “was in parts racially targeted and dehumanising.”
A report outlining the findings of the hearing, which was held in private, states: “Coun Rowley used language in an email that negatively characterised individuals and ethnic groups and as such breached the council’s member code of conduct by failing to treat others with respect; failing to promote equality; and, by bringing her role as a councillor, and by implication the council, into disrepute.”
The sub-committee recommended that Coun Rowley be removed from all council committees and all “external appointments.”
According to a summary of the hearing, CounRowley accepted that she had sent the email but stated that she did not intend to upset anyone.
She also said she was “repeating information she had been given in the community” and that she “had only intended to respond to a single fellow councillor.”
Coun Rowley informed the panel that she had already been reprimanded by Labour and would be unable to stand for the party at the forthcoming local elections in May.
When contacted, Coun Rowley said she did not want to comment further.
After the hearing, Gillian Marshall, the council’s chief legal officer, said: “On September 3, 2025, we received a complaint regarding the conduct of Coun Olivia Rowley.
“This was investigated in line with our policies and procedures.
“At the standards hearing sub-committee on January 29, 2026, Coun Rowley was found to have breached the member’s code of conduct.
“The sub-committee has recommended that Coun Rowley is removed from all committees (and sub-committees) and all external appointments.”
Coun Rowley has served as an elected member in Wakefield for more than 35 years, across three terms, and previously held three senior posts in the council’s cabinet.
She was first voted in to serve Wakefield’s old Calder-Lupset–Westgate ward in 1980, before the ward boundaries were changed up shortly afterwards.
She was then elected to the new seat of Wakefield Central in 1982 before leaving the district two years later.
Coun Rowley returned to serve as councillor for Wakefield East ward in 1990, where she remained until being de-selected by the party ahead of the 2022 local elections.
She again returned to the council after winning the Ossett seat from the Conservatives in 2023.
Coun Rowley served as cabinet member for adults and health, before taking up the environment portfolio and later the portfolio for children and young people.
She stood down from the latter position in March 2018, shortly after Ofsted produced a highly critical report on the state of Wakefield’s children’s services.
In 2019, she was then appointed chair of the local climate change scrutiny committee, tasked with holding the council to account on its net zero pledge.