Troubled Derbyshire town council is ‘working hard’ to get ‘back on track’ after 9 resignations
A troubled Derbyshire town council is seeking professional advice and its chairperson has stated it is ‘working hard to put things back on track’ during ‘unsettled’ times after the resignation of nine councillors.
Shirebrook Town Council has been at the centre of a degree of discord and disagreements which have led to two confidential meetings being abandoned and a significant number of councillors resigning and leaving only seven in place with possible elections pending for most of the vacant seats.
The council, which needs a minimum of five councillors to function, has sought support from the Derbyshire Association of Local Councils which is putting together a package of recommendations for the authority including training sessions.
Newly-appointed Council Chairperson, Cllr Sarah Brooks, said: “It has been very unsettling and I have found it really sad to lose some councillors.
“Hopefully, we are working hard to move forward and I want – alongside other councillors who remain with the elections coming up – for those [vacant] places to be filled and for us to be working together and working in a more positive way for Shirebrook.
“I think DALC will significantly help matters and help us move forward as a council. I asked, with many councillors, to bring DALC in and as a new chairman – and I have never held that position before – it is important to get the required training to do the chairman’s role to the best of my ability.
“And by doing a course with DALC it will help me achieve that. It’s a positive thing and we will seek their advice.”
Among the discord the two confidential council meetings that had to be abandoned concerned Shirebrook Town Football Club’s bid to take over the running and maintenance of the council’s village hall for the club and the community and this was followed by a number of councillors’ resignations.
A council spokesperson stated these meetings were abandoned after some councillors did not agree with the proposed project for the village hall while others felt a public consultation should have taken place and some did not want to take the matter forward with the public excluded.
The council has decided to temporarily pause any decision concerning the future of the village hall until it can consider the matter properly with a full complement of councillors.
Disputes in the community, reports of disruptive and intimidating public meetings alongside the nine councillors’ resignations have also attracted a lot of online and social media fervour with some disparaging comments aimed at councillors.
Shirebrook Town Football Club had argued that Cllr Brooks had failed to declare an interest in matters relating to the future of the village hall based on a concern that she is employed in a management role at a licensed premises linked to another popular Shirebrook football club.
But Cllr Brooks stressed, according to the Monitoring Officer based at Bolsover District Council, that it had not been necessary for her to declare an interest in this instance in relation to a relevant meeting in June which she had not attended.
Cllr Brooks said people can say what they want to a degree as long as they do so respectfully and social media can be a good thing because the people of Shirebrook have their concerns and the council will look to address these.
She added that she was raised on the basis that if you have something to say, you have to say it, but you do so with respect and you have to take in what others have to say too and you can move on and learn from these things.
Former councillors Jennifer Wilson and Nicola Smith’s resignations were the latest to be published on the council’s website on September 18 and September 12 and they make up a total of nine councillors who have all resigned in a short period with vacancy notices published in September.
These councillors include Jennifer Wilson, Nicola Smith, Pauline Chapman, Terry Chapman, Paul Harford, Vicky Kirby, Marian Stockdale, Steve Fritchley and Christine Dale.
Former Cllr Nicola Smith stated in a Facebook post that her decision to resign was not an easy one but she felt her plan to make better use of community spaces did not really get the consideration or enthusiasm she had hoped for and she felt the council is not what it used to be and it was time to step away.
She added that she felt the council was no longer focused on giving time, energy and commitment to making a real difference for local people.
Shirebrook Town Council has formally published the nine councillor vacancies on its website and if an acceptable request is made to the area’s returning officer within a deadline elections for some of the positions could be scheduled to take place no later than November 27 and no later than December 4 in the case of former Cllr Smith’s vacancy.
Two of the vacant seats previously occupied by Cllrs Steve Fritchley, for Shirebrook and Langwith, and Christine Dale, for Shirebrook South, are not to be subject to an election but will be co-opted with appointments, according to the town council after it received confirmation from Bolsover District Council.
Cllr Brooks posted on Facebook that the council knows things have been ‘unsettled’ recently but she offered reassurances that the remaining councillors are ‘working hard to put things back on track’ and an emergency meeting would be called to sort urgent matters so the council can move forward for the good of the town.
She told the BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I have a very positive outlook. It’s about moving forward and do we have some issues? Of course, we do, but we have been working together with the councillors that remain and we are making a list of priorities that we feel we need to face first.”
Cllr Brooks said she is conscious of the elections and that new councillors will be joining them ‘on this journey’ which the council wants to be a fresh start on a collaborative basis.
She added that there will be differences but what will be important is how the council faces those differences with respect and she believes that process has already started.
Cllr Brooks said: “I was born and raised in Shirebrook. My mum and dad were born and raised in Shirebrook and we have grown up with that sense of how great the Shirebrook community is and they rally for everybody.”
She added that she did not think it would be appropriate for her to comment directly on the resignations because that would be a matter for those councillors.
Town Council Clerk Jennifer Jeffrey said: “DALC is going away and putting together a package with training suggestions and for one-to-one sessions with myself and councillors with a broad spectrum of advice as we move forward.”
She added: “My hope for the future is that Shirebrook Town Council can settle back into some sort of normality and achieve good things for the people of Shirebrook.”
Former Shirebrook Town Cllr Steve Fritchley, who is a Bolsover District Councillor for Langwith, and former Shirebrook Town Cllr Jennifer Wilson, who also serves as a Bolsover District Councillor for Shirebrook North, have both been asked for statements but at the time of publication they had not yet responded.