Councillor kicked out over event

A councillor has been publicly kicked-off a committee after the Holbeach Car and Bike Show went ahead, amid more parish council in-fighting.

This year’s event took place on Sunday, July 22 at the Lawns Caravan and Camping site in Fleet.
It was supposed to be at Holbeach Primary School and run by the parish council, but due to a wet weather forecast, the venue pulled out of hosting it two days before.
Coun Sophie Hutchinson cited competitors coming for a strongman competition, and commitments from businesses and vehicle owners to attend as a reason to try and hold it.
She told the meeting she’d paid for new insurance out of her own pocket to run it as an independent event before a third venue had to be found after some Fleet parish councillors objected to an agreement for it be held on its playing field.
Instead it went ahead at The Lawns, and the feedback to The Voice and on social media was positive.
However, at last week’s meeting of Holbeach Parish Council, Coun Tim Wiltshire, the chair of the PR and Events committee, called it a ‘complete disaster’ that had ‘brought the council into disrepute’ and said he was launching a vote to get Coun Hutchinson kicked-off the committee.
He did not say what was wrong with the event, only that he’d not been told about the venue change, something Coun Hutchinson said was not correct.
She told the meeting she had texts from Coun Wiltshire saying ‘it was a great success’.
When it came to the vote, three voted against removing Coun Hutchinson from the committee, two abstained and five voted for the action, including the chair Clive Turner and vice chair Rick Stevens.
None of them spoke about the event or explained why they were voting with Coun Wiltshire, who has had several run ins with Coun Hutchinson in recent months.
He told the meeting “It’s been a complete disaster.
“As the chair I knew nothing about the change of venue and decisions were taken without the authority of councillors. Because of this, the council has been brought into disrepute.
“As such I’m seeking to remove Coun Hutchinson junior (Her mum Isobel is also on the council).
“I need a team I can work with and unfortunately said councillor is not a team member. She needs to go.”
Coun Sophie Hutchinson responded: “I’m surprised because I’ve got the texts you sent saying it was a great success and brilliant.
“The council were informed of the decision and it was made clear to councillors we were still looking to hold the event to help support Royals Gym.
“It was decided to do it independently.
“Yes, councillors weren’t told of the final venue change, but it was an independently run event then.”
Coun Wiltshire accused Coun Hutchinson of holding events in competition with the council, though didn’t elaborate further.
The council had posted on social media saying the event had been cancelled and would be re-arranged, confusing many of those looking to attend. An official parish council run show has not been re-arranged.
“You are running with the foxes and hunting with the hounds,” he continued. “I can’t work with you,”
Coun Hutchinson queried whether the council could hold a vote to which clerk Jan Hearsey said they’d received advice from Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils (LALC), though she admitted the authority did not have that advice in writing.
Coun Isobel Hutchinson said: “Get it in writing, otherwise we’ll be suing the council.”
A spokesman for LALC told The Voice it had given verbal advice but had asked the clerk to contact SHDC’s Monitoring Officer first.
l Elsewhere a bid to build more play equipment for Carter’s Park was deferred after it was admitted approving it would take the council over budget.
An agreement to pay for the new slide also didn’t go through after Coun Hutchinson said that what was delivered did not meet the specification and the council should speak to the developer about a discount.
One new member was elected on to the council. Natasha Newman, who works in The Crown, has lived in Holbeach since she was 12.
“I like to think I can bring ideas to the council,” she said. “I talk to the public a lot in my job and I’d like to help Holbeach in any way I can.”