Parish council under the spotlight Probe into appointment
of village handyman THE appointment of a new village handy- man has sparked an external investigation. The decision to give the job to the clerk’s husband, Dave Elstone, last summer is the subject of a complaint that is being looked into by Maidstone Council’s monitoring of- ficer, who has undertaken interviews with several councillors. Five members – chairman Chris Dyke, vice-chairman Paul Young, Richard Ash, John Hughes and Paul Blackmore – are being investigated following a complaint by assistant clerk Wendy Licence, wife of parish councillor Geoff. Tunbridge Wells’ deputy monitoring offi-
cer Keith Trowell is undertaking the probe andwill report toMaidstone Council’s stan-
MADGINFORD Hall was closed for parish council business after clerk Helen Elstone went on sick leave. Last October she was given permission to
work from home for personal reasons, rather than at the parish office inMadginford Hall, which was then closed. In late November, she signed off sick, leaving councillors des- perately trying to fill in voluntarily. Vice-chairman Paul Young said: “She was working from home for a bit because she had some issues at the hall, which I don’t want to go into. Later on she went off sick.” Due to the nature of the issues, the coun-
cil decided to cease all full council and com- mittee meetings held at Madginford Hall until the end of 2011. An alternative loca- tion was found at St Peters Church, Button Lane.
THE cost of keeping Bearsted clean and tidy, with its public open spaces neat and trim, is proving a bone of contention among keepers of the parish purse.
Handyman Dave Elstone, whose company Clean and Tidy was hired by the council to carry out the work, was re- cruited for an estimated 10 hours per week, the council heard. But the real cost of keeping
trees and hedges cut and rub- bish cleared from The Green and village verges was costing
BEARSTED Parish Council has been rocked by a series of events that have led to:
Aborough council investigation into the actions of five parish councillors.
The full-time clerk going off sick due to personal issues.
The impromptu closure of the main five-day-a-week parish office.
No parish council meetings held at Madginford Hall.
dards board, which has code of conduct powers relating to councillors. Vice-chairman Paul Young said: “I am con-
fident the investigation will find nothing wrong and enable us to draw a line under this matter – in my opinion Dave Elstone carries out an excellent job for us as handy- man.”
Meetings rearranged as clerk goes off sick...
Madginford Hall is due to reopen for parish meetings in January and the office was being staffed part-time as Downs Mail went to press. Cllr Young added: “We want to sort out the
issues and are working hard to get Helen back. I don’t see the issue with not using MadginfordHall as Bearsted has a number of excellent village halls and I would like fu- ture meetings to be held in many different lo- cations around the village.”
...but ‘business as usual’ at hall
THE Madginford Hall management commit- tee, chaired by parish councillor Pat Mar- shall, is concerned problems and rumours will impact on hall bookings and sustain- ability. “I would like to stress it is business as usual for the hall,” MrsMarshall said.
the council as much as 50 hours per week. Cllr Richard Ash argued
that some of the work listed could have been carried out in half the time and claimed that compostable waste should not be being burned. He also pointed out that vol- unteers who helped keep the village smart and tidy at the weekends were irked to find themselves working alongside a contractor who was being paid.
THE remarkable life story of a Jewish lady from Allington, Maidstone, was told to the Rotary Club of Maidstone when it awarded her its highest honour, a Paul Harris Fellowship. Edith Brown was 14 in 1938 when she endured interrogations by Nazi Gestapo before being permitted on to a train to London Liverpool Street with her small brother and a bag. The pair, among 10,000 Jews to benefit from the Kinder- transport movement, never saw their parents again. Edith was in a group of 50 sent to a Northern Ireland hostel – a collection of wet tents. She did not go to school but was put to work as as a dairymaid and in farming. In 1942, at 18, Edith turned to nursing and moved to Liverpool Hospital for Tropical Dis- eases where she helped troops returning from the Far East.
6 East Council process is
called into question THE parish council has been accused of lacking openness about the closure of theMadginford office and the fu- ture of the parish office. Initially, the parish council said
that the office was closed for “opera- tional reasons” and that the clerk was working from home. It also stated its long-term aim was to relo- cate the parish office elsewhere. But in a letter sent to Frank Jagger following his inquiry, Cllr Young said the office was closed immediately as a result of the clerk’s sickness and that the decision to move the office elsewhere had neither been debated nor agreed by the full council. Frank, who reported the parish council to the monitoring officer over its procedures relating to removal of trees at Church Landway, said: “Does this parish council understand what it is doing? It just seems to say one thing and then backtracks later.” Vice-chairman Paul Young said:
“I have already discussed this matter with Mr Jagger and I am sure we can sort out any perceived misunder- standings. “It has been a difficult year for a number of us on the council due to persistent complaints from a small number of residents as well as code of conduct investigations and I would like to move on and get back to business as usual as soon as possi- ble.”
Cost of contract under review
In agreeing to pay the handyman his current out- standing invoice, the council agreed he would be asked to restrict his work to weekdays, with the proviso that any hours in excess of those agreed must be approved by members. In defence of Mr Elstone, council vice-chairman Cllr Paul Young said: “He is clearly trying to keep Bearsted nice for the benefit of the community. He has
Rotary honours a remarkable woman
Edith, of Nursery Avenue, Allington, moved in to midwifery and health vis- iting and came toMaidstone in 1957, working at Preston Hall andMaidstone Hospital for 24 years before retiring for health reasons. She developed leukaemia due to ex- posure to X-rays and volunteered suc- cessfully for new treatments. Rotary Club president Jim Boswell, of Marden, said: “Our club is proud to
acknowledge her service to the community.”
A fellowship was also awarded to Rotarian for 32 years, retired bank managerWilliam Mather, of Priory Close, East Farleigh. He was a long-serving club treasurer, chairman of two committees and is a trustee of the club`s Char- ity Trust Fund. He was also treasurer of Kent County Show, is a member of the Redhill Trust and was a local yoluntary tax commissioner for many years.
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been using his initiative and is being proactive.” Cllr Ash said: “We need to monitor the hours worked much more carefully when we are spending other people’s money.We need to ensure we are getting value for money.”
Cllr Geoff Licence queried whether the council had hired an individual or a company, as there were occasions when more than one man was work- ing on a given contract. Had the council hired a company, he said the contract should have been put out to tender.
More farmers’
markets proposed BEARSTED’S popular Farm- ers’ Market could soon be held twice a month. The parish council ap- proved the purchase of ta- bles and a barbecue/grill for use on the council’s stall and are to look at the options of making the market twice monthly from April. A final decision will be based on financial viability.
Green light for solar
panels scheme A SCHEME has been given the go-ahead to site 16 solar panels on agricultural land at Knowle Hill House, Knowle Hill, Ulcombe.
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