Former council leader Ergin Erbil did not breach the code of conduct over his Crews Hill golf course video, a committee ruled, though some claims were wrong.

Enfield’s former council leader, Ergin Erbil, did not break the councillors’ code of conduct with a social media video about Crews Hill Golf Course. That is the unanimous ruling of the council’s Councillor Conduct Committee.

The committee’s written decision notice was published on 23 September, with the minutes of the hearing following a day later. The hearing itself was on 10 September.

The ruling clears him, but it does not say he was right. The council’s own investigation accepted that several things he told residents were wrong. It found that he believed them, and that being wrong is not a breach of the code.

What the video said

Cllr Erbil posted the video on 21 February 2026, when he was still Leader of the Council. He recorded it outside the golf course, which the council owns and which sits inside the Crews Hill site the draft Local Plan proposes for a new neighbourhood.

A transcript is in the complaint papers the council published. The claims the complaints centred on were:

  • “Don’t believe them when they tell you it’s green belt”
  • “There is no wildlife that benefits from this golf course”
  • “This golf course has a max number of 20 members”
  • the land is “perfect for us to build 6,000 council homes, 4,000 genuinely affordable” homes
  • “Half of the development will legally have to be publicly accessible parkland”

Two complaints reached the council’s Monitoring Officer at the end of February. Cllr Erbil took the video down on 27 February and later posted an edited version. According to the investigator, the new version dropped the membership figure and the comments on public access, and did not repeat the earlier green belt remarks.

What the record shows

The council’s own documents answer most of these claims directly.

Claim in the video What the record says
Not green belt The golf course is in the Metropolitan Green Belt. The council’s 2023 Green Belt assessment rates the harm of releasing it as “very high”.
No wildlife benefits The Local Plan inspector calls it a Grade I Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. In his June advice he told the council most of the course must stay in the green belt.
20 members The club told the council it had 553 members in August 2021, in its objection to the draft Local Plan.
Half must legally be parkland Council planning officers advised he was mistaken, according to the investigator’s report.

The investigator, a council governance adviser, wrote that Cllr Erbil “genuinely believed” the membership claim, “though it may possibly be inaccurate”. Cllr Erbil told the Monitoring Officer he had been told the club had “only 20 or so members”. The minutes record that he could not recall who told him.

On the 6,000 homes, the investigator found the figure was “aspirational” and referred to the wider proposed new town around Crews Hill, not the golf course alone. The video also mentions garden centres and car parks.

Why the committee cleared him

The investigator concluded that Cllr Erbil “did not intend to mislead or misstate any facts”. The Monitoring Officer agreed in June, and found no breach.

One complainant asked the committee to review that decision. They argued that the claims could easily have been checked before publication. They also said some were repeated in later posts after concerns had been raised in March. They suggested he should issue a statement correcting the inaccuracies and be reminded to take more care.

The committee disagreed. Its decision notice says Cllr Erbil “was trying to express a political position rather than misstate the facts”. It adds that he “was not a technical expert and used every day, colloquial language to engage with residents”.

Four councillors heard the case: Chris Dey, a Conservative, in the chair, with Bektas Ozer, Margaret Greer and Tom O’Halloran. Cllr Erbil did not attend and sent a written statement.

In it he says he “at no stage” set out to mislead residents. He argues that the code “is not to police political disagreement”. He says any statement that “could have been more precisely worded” does not amount to a breach.

The Conservatives took control of the council in May’s election. Cllr Erbil now sits as a Labour councillor for Edmonton Green.

What it means for you

The ruling settles the complaint, not the argument about the land.

What happens to the golf course will be decided through the Local Plan. In his June advice, the planning inspector told the council to keep most of the course in the green belt. There will be a public consultation on the changes he required, which the council expects later in 2026. That is the point at which residents on either side can have their say. Our Enfield planning news page sets out what the inspector asked for at Crews Hill and how to take part.

The committee’s next scheduled meetings are on 8 December 2026 and 13 April 2027.

Sources: Enfield Council Councillor Conduct Committee, agenda and papers for 10 September 2026, including the decision notice, minutes, the complaint papers and investigation report, and Cllr Erbil’s written statement of 3 September 2026; Crews Hill Golf Club, representation to the Enfield Draft Local Plan, August 2021; LUC for Enfield Council, Green Belt and MOL Assessment 2023, Appendix B2.