News Code of conduct costs
A SERVING member of Bearsted Parish Council has been named as the person who made four code of conduct complaints against colleagues.
Cllr Geoff Licence (pictured) who stood as an independent candidate for Bear- sted and Thurnham during the recent bor- ough council elec- tions,was revealed as a complainant of al- leged
bullying
against four fellow members in a letter from Maidstone Council’s head of legal services. In throwing out three of the
four complaints, lawyer Paul Fisher has suggested the mem- bers involved attend mediation to resolve their various issues. But one of the trio, Cllr Rowe
said: “There is no way I intend to go to mediation.” Complaints of alleged breaches
of the code of conductwere made against Cllrs Rowe, Trevor Smith and Richard Ash, the parish coun- cil chairman. The fourth complaintwasmade against Cllr Graham Farrow, but he resigned from the parish just days before notice landed on his doormat at the end of March and the complaint was later with- drawn. Cllr Farrow listed among his reasons for resigning “the wast- ing of public money on code of conduct complaints, disrupting
the planning of com- munity events and in- competence”. It was revealed last
year that taxpayers paid an estimated £25,000 on an earlier round of complaints. Members of the
parish council are still calculating the latest tally. Mr Fisher’s latest
letter comments on “personality clashes”
between members of the parish council but says the monitoring officer does not believe there has been any breach of the code of conduct and recommends resolu- tion of the issues by mediation. He is arranging a meeting to discuss procedures with all the council members, following the latest spate of complaints of al- leged breaches in the code of con- duct. Parish clerk Michelle Rumble
said: “He plans to explain howwe should adhere to it and how we should treat each other. “I would like to think all coun-
cillors will be in attendance and see it as a way of moving for- ward.” But Cllr Rowe said: “I have no intention of going to any media- tion. There is a major problem with the parish council – not with
me. How much money has this one member and his family cost the ratepayers of Maidstone?” Three years ago, Cllr Licence’s
wife Wendy made complaints against Chris Dyke and four other members of the parish council – three of whom, plus Mr Dyke, have since resigned. All members, apart from Mr Dyke, were exon- erated. In this latest round of allega-
tions, an initially anonymous complainant reported the four to Maidstone Council for member misconduct over arrangements for last November’s fireworks dis- play in the village. Maidstone Council is obliged to examine all allegations before de- ciding whether to investigate fur- ther. It hires an independent person to examine the facts in cases such as this and, in his con- clusion, Mr Fisher wrote: “The in- dependent person agreed with the monitoring officer’s view that the complaints should be dealt with by way of other action in that it revealed personality clashes between the complainant and other members of the parish council.” The chairman, Cllr Ash, was unavailable for comment.
Robert is the top sprayer
A LENHAM farmer has won an award for being one of the nation’s top farm sprayers. Robert Davies (pictured) is an ex- perienced sprayer operator and protects a diverse range of crops on his own farm and a neighbour, in- cluding cereals, oilseed rape and beans. A sprayer operator plays a critical role in ensuring optimum results are obtained from all vari- eties of crops. The Farm Sprayer Operator of
the Year (FSOOTY) Award is run and sponsored by Syngenta, in as- sociation with the trade journal, FarmersWeekly. Mr Davies was presented with
his award as regional winner for the South East at the International Sprays and Sprayers event, held as part of Cereals 2014 in Cam- bridgeshire. Syngenta’s Ben Magri said: “The FSOOTYAwards judges all aspects of farm spraying to identify the very best operators across the UK, and to share their skills and expertise. “Robert has consistently shown outstanding skills and works to very high standards, to achieve the best possible results. He has proved aworthy winner.”
Station revamp may be on track Sun shines on Downswood fete
A LONG-awaited plan to develop Maidstone East Station and the redun- dant sorting office in nearby Sandling Road has been received by Maid- stone Council. The outline application, fromSolum Regeneration, comes 15 years after
the development potential of the site was first discussed. It comes hot on the heels of a decision by the borough council’s plan-
ning committee to refuse permission for a supermarket at nearby Spring- field.
The development, which would also take in the Cantium House office
block, proposes a superstore (8,296 sqm), customer café and 580 parking spaces, a filling station, and further units with potentially widespread uses including financial and professional services, hot food takeaways and a ‘drinking establishment’. The plan also includes a new railway station and station building (330sqm), with parking for 560 commuters.
Cricket win
ROSEACRE Primary School, Bearsted, won the Maidstone Kwik Cricket competition, contested by 22 schools. Prizes were presented
by Alex Fordham, cap- tain of The Mote CC, now expanding its colts section with coaching for seven to 17-year- olds.
36 Maidstone East July 2014
MORE than £1,700 was raised to- wards the upkeep of Downswood Community Centre at the 2014 Downswood Summer Fete. It was the perfect day for the
fete, with the sun shining down on all the runners, riders and duck hookers who enjoyed themselves in the great outdoors. Indoors therewere stalls selling everything from cupcakes to handbags. The Kimura Shukokai Karate
Club gave a martial arts demon- stration and therewere pony rides for children and tug-of-war for dads.
DCA chairman John Everett
said: “It was a lovely community event and the weather was cer- tainly on our side this
year.Afan- tastic effort from everyone involved and togetherwe all made it a really enjoyable afternoon for our guests.”
There were events for both adults and chil- dren, including this sprint race, at the Downswood Summer Fete.
Photograph: Andy Archer
downsmail.co.uk
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