Dear Editor

This is not the Council's monthly update to readers of Hadleigh Nub News. I speak only for myself.

I attended my last full council meeting as a councillor this week.

It was hastily arranged to take place 24 hours earlier than originally scheduled, shorter than previously agreed and with the public forum shoved towards the end of the agenda 'to get business done first'.

Angela Wiltshire secured Dentaid visit to Hadleigh (Picture Nub News)

I heard some controversial ideas from council colleagues regarding 'salary', what 'to receive' means, whether I may question 'year end accounts', the unbelievable 'we're going to call the police', and, having raised my hand with concerns only to have been talked over and shut down, 'you should have raised your hand if you had questions'…

Listening to colleagues make excuses (and the rules up as they went along) in order to avoid scrutiny from councillors and the public was an apt way to round up the last four years of this town council. 

Ought councillors to shout and pull faces at a member of the public who asked for the public forum to be brought forward so that he could go back to work after attending the meeting (3pm on a workday)? He was trying to raise concerns about the activities of the council, somebody has to keep an eye on us. But 'be quiet or leave' seemed to sum up the attitude of some councillors towards the public.

Ought councillors to have approved a payment of an unknown amount to a member of staff which was called one thing but was probably another? 

Should councillors be considering why the income from burials and interments are down on the council's forecast? Or does the answer from the Proper Officer of the council ('Not as many people died as predicted') suffice?

I'm still slightly shocked that, after his own experience of being unwelcome at council meetings, the Deputy Mayor opted to tell a member of the public to 'be quiet or leave'. He then called for a vote to exclude the member of the public, a man who has lived in and around Hadleigh all his life.

Bill Wilson and town clerk threatened to call police

Councillors dutifully and factionally agreed with him and he bustled out of the room with the clerk stating 'we're going to call the police'. After waiting a few minutes for the drama to subside, he looked affronted at the suggestion that he had 'pretended' to do it.. 

Councils are expected to conduct their business with the public present. One councillor confirmed this in an email last week, asking me not to copy him into emails, the correct place for business being in meetings and committees. 

Yet some councillors appear more concerned with stifling public involvement and debate and with handing over more decisions and responsibilities to officers. They render themselves even less relevant in the local government system.

Angela Wiltshire is also a police volunteer

Those who try to take responsibility for decision making, try to hold others to account and call out those who are not following proper policy and procedure are treated unfairly and excluded. Legitimate requests are ignored, stories are concocted to explain failures, emails are lost, great ideas kicked into the long grass. 

Councillors in the minority group are judged as bad people, trouble makers whose only motivation is to bring down the council.

Concerns raised over Hadlegh town clerk payments hushed up

No such judgement for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, alternately attending meetings, rarely seen in the same meeting at the same time.

No such judgement for the councillor who doesn't even apologise when he doesn't attend meetings, not seen for months.

No such judgement for those councillors who fought to get onto an interview process investigation panel and then relied on hearsay and factional lies to construct a report which covered up the truth.

No such judgement for the colleagues who turned a blind eye to a conflict of interest and then refused to accept it, it being easier to distract by characterising others as villains or just not fit for the job.

I've been to practically every Full Town Council meeting in Hadleigh for 8 years. For more than 5 of those years I was a councillor. It's been a great honour to be a councillor, and I've tried my best, but from May 9th, for now, it's over'

Angela