More turmoil for parish council as chair quits

The chair of Holbeach Parish Council resigned before a vote of no confidence in him this week, as the authority also revealed it is in breach of financial regulations as it set its council tax share.

The authority is remaining tight lipped on the departure of Clive Turner or how and why it has breached the regulations despite announcing both at its meeting on Monday night (January 16).
The vice chair Coun Tim Wiltshire tabled the motion of no confidence in the chair and announced at the meeting that he’d resigned.
Coun Isobel Hutchinson asked the two councillors who had tabled the vote of no confidence to say why due to it being in the public interest.
Coun Rick Stevens, the former vice chair, who resigned from the authority in September but has since returned, said: “I didn’t like the way he was dealing with stuff outside the council involving council business and off his own back.
“No councillor should work on their own.”
The Voice understands that Peter Howden had earlier resigned as a councillor but had vowed to return following Mr Turner’s departure.
Mr Turner was elected chair in May after only a few months on the council.
Coun Peter Savory said: “He had very little experience of being on the council when he took over.
“We know he was good with computers and corporate and he brought that experience into the council.
“Experience sitting around here goes a long way so the council voted in somebody with very limited experience of the council to become chairman.
“Surely isn’t that the council’s fault, not his fault?”
Coun Wiltshire thanked Mr Turner for his hard work and the best in the future.
“He’s resigned so I think we need to move on,” he told the meeting. “He’s gone.”
Later on an amendment to the proposed budget was made to delete a bid to give the chairman of the council a £1,000 ‘expenses budget’.
“I don’t think we’ve ever done that before and I don’t see why we need to do it now,” Coun Stevens said.
While setting the finances Coun Hutchinson also asked the council for more information when its clerk Jan Hearsey stated that the authority had suffered a ‘breach of financial regulations’. However she was told ‘no comment’.
The Voice asked for further information after the meeting and was told: “It applied to a closed session agenda point.”
Speaking outside of the meeting, Coun Sophie Hutchinson criticised the authority for its lack of transparency particularly with councillors being asked not to share any documents from meetings and treat them as confidential.
“It breaches the principles of openness and transparency that all local authorities should follow, and is totally unacceptable,” she said.
“Holbeach Parish Council is totally out of control, and needs to be held accountable to the public.”
A spokesman for the council said: “The documents to support the agenda are given to councillors to assist them with their decisions and may contain commercially sensitive information.”
l Holbeach Parish Council is to put its share of the council tax up by just over five per cent.
It means the average band D property would see an increase of £4.47, with £90.51 of its tax going to the authority compared to £86.04 last year.
Coun Sophie Hutchinson asked if a release on where the tax rise would be spent could go out.
“Yes, it’s in line with inflation but a lot of people are struggling,” she said. “I feel we should justify it.”
But others disagreed and Coun Stevens said the council had been ‘slated’ by the auditors last year for a similar article put out when Coun Huchinson was chair explaining how a 22 per cent increase would be spent.
Coun Sam Bailey said: “It’s £4 a year. I don’t think the cost of living is going to be affected.”