Parish council left rudderless after walk outs

South Kesteven District Council will decide today (Thursday) whether to allow key cabinet member and Aveland ward councillor, Dr Peter Moseley, to be seconded to Pointon Parish Council for it to be able to carry out its business.

With only Councillors Roy Greenwood and Corinne Ramm remaining, vacancies for five new councillors have been advertised and an election called, which cannot be held until May.

Coun Moseley said if he does not step in, the running of the parish will have to be taken on by SKDC. Having been a parish councillor in the past, he said: “With all the extra work we (SKDC) are doing I had to think carefully, but it is the right thing to do.

“I just want to help get the parish council into a place where it is fit and ready for parish councillors to be elected in May.”

He said he was looking forward to working with the two remaining experienced members.

Coun Moseley said: “It is very easy to get quite sensitive and heated in parish land and sometimes you need to step back and have a good look.”

Chairman of Pointon Parish Council Chris South resigned due to ill health, while councillors Clive Burt, Doreen Griffiths, Wendy Moore and Hazel Wells resigned after heated exchanges at meetings in November.

Coun Burt was advised to resign to remove a conflict of interest as he is also director of the company running the Old Ship Inn which was negotiating a three-year lease to run the playing field pavilion and carry out urgent repairs.

Coun Burt has since claimed he was wrongly advised, but clerk Carol McKenzie insists Coun Burt initially failed to declare an interest.

Coun Burt told The Standard: “I was told that for legal reasons I had to resign. This is because the pub’s owner, ALIRO Ltd was going to sign a lease with the parish council to renovate and then run the Sports and Social Club. I have always declared the Old Ship Inn as a financial interest at meetings. From my limited research the act covering councils does not allow members to be employees of the council. I think the clerk has maybe misinterpreted the holding of a lease as ‘employment’. Put on the spot I left.”

An advert has been placed for a permanent clerk as Mrs McKenzie was only appointed on a temporary basis.

An SKDC spokesman said: “Five of the seven members of Pointon and Sempringham Parish Council have resigned, which leaves it inquorate and unable to make decisions.

“A by-election has been called, which SKDC will administer, but because of Covid-19 legislation all elections are postponed until May.

“SKDC can appoint someone for a temporary period to make the numbers up to the minimum required to conduct council business. In this case they would need a total of three members to be able to make decisions and the process is under way to appoint one temporary member.”