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28 October 2023
The Bucks Free Press published an article yesterday about an acrimonious row between Ms Main and Cllr Jones which caused the former to resign from Hughenden Parish Council. The full text of the article is below. (I hope I have not infringed any copyright laws but I am sure the BFP will tell me if I have.) Only the headlines are on-line at Councillor quits over 'acrimonious' row with Council leader | Bucks Free Press .
Here’s the thing.
I am invariably polite, factual and professional both orally and in writing. I am committed to, and practice, openness, transparency and accountability in my work as a councillor.
And the result is that I have been the subject of – well I’ve lost count of how many complaints I have had about my breaching HPC’s Code of Conduct. I was up to seven in December 2022 when I disconnected from Bucks Council’s complaints procedure. I was sanctioned by HPC in April.
I then complied meticulously with these sanctions. I waited patiently for the training which would release me from the sanctions, having asked the then Clerk for some of this training in June.
And the result is that last month, Ms Main, then a councillor, proposed, out of the blue, more sanctions against me – sanctions which would have been unlawful. Ms Main drafted an inaccurate and damaging statement criticising me without providing any evidence. Both Ms Main and Cllr Jones voted to put this statement on HPC’s website, still without any explanation of what I had allegedly done to warrant such a statement.
Both voted for Council to make a further complaint (I think that would be my eighth) to sanction me for not complying with HPC’s sanctions.
And yet Ms. Main and Cllr. Jones – the Chair and deputy Chair of Hughenden Parish Council – can have an acrimonious row (and not for the first time) using intemperate and disrespectful language. Both have certainly breached HPC’s Code of Conduct.
And the result of their behaviour? Well - no comment.
No comment from Ms. Main or Cllr Jones. No comment from the Council. And presumably no comment from other councillors.
You can come to your own conclusions.
Burnham Meadow and Spinney, Old Allotments in Great Kingshill
The eagle-eyed amongst you may have seen a news item put out by the Council two days ago. It includes the following sentence:-
“Our fifteen Open Spaces are being reviewed to plan for their futures with significant progress being made; for example the community renovation of Cockpit Hole, the detailed plans for Burnham Meadow and Spinney and the development of the Old Allotments in Great Kingshill.”
There is considerable information about Cockpit Hole on HPC’s website including an item by Ms Main when she was a parish councillor for Great Kingshill (which is odd because only the Clerk is authorised to put out news items for the Council.)
However, I just wondered if residents know what was happening about the other two sites.
Burnham Meadow and Spinney is in the parish ward of Hughenden Valley. A map is below.
HPC’s Environment and Services Committee met on 10 October (or 9 October; I’m not sure which as the website says both). Item 8 on the agenda says: -
“Burnham Meadow and Spinney
To approve a Site Management Plan submitted by Michael Deegan – Appendix D to follow.”
Michael Deegan is a consultant contracted to produce these plans. His contract was approved by Council at its meeting on 18 July (see my blog of 30 July). I voted against this contract because approval of the contract breached HPC’s Financial Regulations.
Moreover, this contract sets out the three priority sites for drawing up site management plans and the criteria on which they were selected. The contract is commercial-in-confidence and residents therefore have had no opportunity to know what these priorities are or the criteria, let alone being consulted. Council was not allowed by the Chair to discuss the substance of the contract.
Appendix D - the Site Management Plan for Burnham Meadow and Spinney – was not in the background papers for the E&S meeting and has not been circulated to Council. So, I don’t know what the Plan is.
The draft minutes of the E & S Committee have not been circulated either, so I don’t know whether the Committee approved the Plan or not.
There is only one councillor on HPC representing Hughenden Valley ward – Cllr Simon Kearey – and he is not a member of E&S Committee. But I assume that someone has consulted residents on this “detailed” Plan. Because surely the Plan did not go to E&S Committee for approval without prior consultation with residents?
It’s also odd that the Committee was asked to approve this Plan. Committees make recommendations to Council – and Council takes decisions.
The Old Allotments in Great Kingshill consist of a field (see map below).
I believe the field belongs to HPC and was unlawfully given away in 2015 to a local charity called Hughenden Community Support Trust (HCST). But Council decided last year not to take legal advice on the ownership of the land and to lease the land from HCST.
I cannot remember Council considering any plans for developing this land since I became a councillor in May 2021 and this land was not on the agenda of the E&S Committee on 9/10 October.
So, I have no idea what “significant progress” is being made for its “development”.
Great Kingshill ward has only one ward councillor – Cllr Jones – and he is not a member of the E & S Committee.
But as with Burnham Meadow, I assume someone has consulted residents about the “significant progress” with the Old Allotments development?
Bucks Free Press article, page 5, 27 October 2023.
“Councillor quits over row with leader by Charlie Smith
The vice chair of Hughenden Parish Council in Wycombe has resigned after falling out with the chair.
Cllr Debra Main, who chaired the Finance Committee, announced she was quitting the council in an October 19 email seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Writing to the Chair Stan Jones, she said: “Please accept this as my resignation from my role as councillor effective immediately.
“While you remain in this position that requires leadership, I cannot continue to work with you.”
The subject of her email referred to the ‘Highway Scheme’ on Cockpit Road, one of the main thoroughfares through the Great Kingshill ward, which Cllrs Main and Jones represent.
Cllr Main was not available for comment, while Cllr Jones and the council said they could not comment, as her resignation had not been submitted to the council clerk or ‘Proper Officer’.
A source close to the council claimed there had been an “acrimonious falling out between Debra and Stan.”
The council has not officially confirmed Cllr Main’s resignation; however Councillor Linda Derrick mentioned the councillor’s departure in her October 23 blog post.
She claimed that Cllr Main’s exit may leave the Finance Committee – now down to three members- ‘inquorate’, meaning it cannot legally meet due to the requirement to have at least three members present. Cllr Derrick also suggested that the Finance Committee meeting of October 23 publicised on the council website had quietly been changed to October 31.
The council website still displays Cllr Main’s profile, which describes her as a mother-of-three with two dogs who has lived in Great Kingshill for five years.
Although a qualified teacher, the outgoing councillor is “employed full-time at a major global bank”, according to the council.
Her resignation leaves the council – which has struggled to fill roles - with just eight out of 15 councillors remaining.
It is understood that a total of 13 councillors have resigned from the council since the May 2021 elections.
The council has lost two clerks in as many years, with a locum clerk currently overseeing council duties.
In recent weeks, other councillors have also threatened to resign from the council, including during the September 26 extraordinary meeting.
The meeting was held to discuss actions against Cllr Derrick, who was found to have bullied two council clerks – a claim she denies.
Cllr Main was present at the meeting where councillors resolved to make a formal complaint to the Buckinghamshire Council Monitoring Officer about Cllr Derrick.”