Hapless Hadleigh town council has come under fire once again after the clerk Wendy Brame last night stood outside the town hall trying to dissuade residents from attending a meeting so they could voice their concerns over proposed car parking charges.

Mrs Brame, along with a couple of town councillors, stood outside the Guildhall telling interested residents that while they could go in, it was unlikely they would be allowed to speak during the allotted 15 minutes public speaking forum.

Clerk Wendy Brame dissuaded people from going into meeting

They were not told that the chair, Cllr Bill Wilson who is hoping to be the next town mayor, has the discretion to extend the public speaking session if required.

However, four people did go in, with an estimated 20-30 other people going home disappointed instead.

One lady, who did manage to speak at the meeting expressed her views, then later added a post on social media page 'Save Hadleigh High Street (keep parking free)':

After the public session Cllr Howlett left the meeting early and clashed with a member of the public (who had not organised anything) falsely claiming: "You thought you was gonna rally a load of your mates to show and bully the council and you failed."

Another resident who was dissuaded from going into the meeting, Zoe Allsop, contacted Nub News to say: "They (Hadleigh council) really are unbelievable . To have the clerk stood outside effectively turning people away is disgraceful. It is undemocratic and something you expect to see in Russia, not Hadleigh.

"Even if time was limited, we all should have been given unobstructed access and then the situation explained by the chairman.

"This is another embarrassing situation that reflects badly, not just of the town council, but Hadleigh as a while.

The clerk and councillors should all collectively hang their heads in shame."

Two of Hadleigh's Babergh councillors, Simon Dowling and Jane Carruthers, were at the meeting, although Kathryn Grandon did not attend - again.

The proposals will be debated and decided by Babergh's Cabinet in April, but although recommendations have been put forward, no decision has yet been made.

Hadleigh town council, known locally as EMUs (England's Most Useless) after it lost its General Power of Competency certificate last May following the elections as not enough councillors were voted in, and instead had to be co-opted, and the clerk was not CiLCA qualified as required.

One co-opted councillor Frank Minns has not attended a single meeting in 10 months, the current mayor Gordon McLeod has not been to a meeting since January, and other councillors regularly miss meetings.

Cllr Wilson, and other Hadleigh town councillors, has been approached for comment.