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Another councillor has quit Sheerness Town Council.
Hairdresser Colin Bastable, 41, who owns the Capelli hair salon in the High Street, was one of a new influx of councillors to be co-opted onto the council in October after five resigned, some saying the atmosphere was “toxic.”
But Mr Bastable, who emailed in his resignation before Monday’s full council meeting, believes he was being "gagged".
He said: “I wanted the council to talk to the 69 shopkeepers who have signed a petition calling for the High Street to be reopened to traffic and explain why Swale council shut it.
“Many believe the town council was responsible for the closure. I think they should use the Press and their new notice board in Sheerness to explain the situation that it was down to Swale council, acting on Covid social-distancing advice from the Government. All I asked for was for the situation to be discussed again.
“I was told it had already been discussed but that was before the five new councillors joined. It is so frustrating. It seems everything is done in total secrecy. I was told I had a conflict of interest because I was a shopkeeper. To be honest, I like the road being closed but I became a councillor to represent the views of the public.”
He added: “Some of the councillors before me said the council was toxic. I don’t agree with that. But it is definitely very argumentative. And it is unbelievably slow and bureaucratic. As a consequence we never seem to get anything done.”
But council chairman Matt Brown said: “He asked for the closure to once again be added to the agenda and requested shopkeepers were given an opportunity to question the council over the closure. The item was on Monday’s agenda. What he cannot do is act as petitioner as it is a conflict of interest with him being a councillor and a business owner in the High Street.
“He was advised any business owner can submit a question for the meeting but wanted an open debate over a petition to reopen the High Street. Any petition would need to be submitted to Swale council because it is control of the closure.”There is a public consultation pending and that is the time to air concerns. He apparently resigned as he was not happy with the response. He certainly wasn’t ‘gagged’ in any way.”
Sheerness Town Council is no stranger to controversy.
Even the fight to get it established met opposition from Labour councillors who feared it would be a waste of time and a drain on voters’ money.
When it came to finding those willing to stand, only eight put their names forward for election to the nine places so they were automatically accepted in May 2019. Another, Steve Ritchie, was co-opted.
Of those, only four remain: chairman Matt Brown (chairman), Brian Spoor (vice-chairman), Chris Foulds, who is in charge of the finance committee, and Chris Reed.
Others like Amanda Green, Lee McCall, Cherise Moorcroft, Malcolm Staines and Steve Ritchie have left. Former clerk Yvette Cheesman also walked away.
Since then the council has recruited Linda Brinklow, Matt Bromley, Peter MacDonald and Dolley White. Zoe O’Brien has taken over as clerk.
Cllr Brown said: “It was always going to be a challenge setting up a new council from scratch with nine strangers all with different ideas. There was always going to be clashes. That happens in councils.”
