The Mayor of Sandwich has come under fire during his first three weeks in office over changes to town council meetings.

Cllr Paul Graeme has altered the meetings from every two weeks to every four weeks in order to help staff become more efficient.

Some councillors agreed with this, but Cllr Susan Laslett said she was very disappointed by the proposals.

Speaking to the mayor at the meeting on Monday she said: “I’m not surprised but I’m extremely disappointed.

“At mayor-making, when you took your oath of office, you gave a speech and reassured us all that you would respect and uphold the traditions of this council and only three weeks in and you are already making these changes.”

The mayor suggested that the move to monthly meetings would allow councillors to be more efficient and free staff from unnecessary paperwork.

However, Cllr Laslett explained that this had come almost immediately after the three Guildhall secretaries had their salaries increased. She added: “To then reduce their work load by 50% seems strange.”

Cllr Laslett claimed the system was not broken and did not need fixing.

She added: “As a councillor I am very proud to be representing the people of Sandwich and if that means attending twice monthly meetings then I’m happy to do so.

“Are we here to serve the public or are we here to serve ourselves? I thought we are here to serve the public.”

Cllr John Bragg disagreed, claiming that in the past monthly meetings had always been sufficient.

He said: “We have met once a month before and managed to do it very well. I can not see that what we do now requires us to meet every other week.”

Cllr Graeme said: “When I became mayor, I said that we must maintain the traditions that make Sandwich unique.

“However, I also said that we need to ensure the town council is effective. Monthly meetings are common practice among town councils.

“A move to monthly meetings will not affect civic events such as the Battle of Britain Day and Remembrance Sunday commemorations, nor our unique Cinque Port traditions.

“Instead it will allow councillors to consider local issues in a timely and efficient manner while at the same time freeing up staff from unnecessary paperwork to be more responsive to the needs of our town and its residents.”

A full review of these changes will take place in November to ensure the new arrangements are working effectively.