Dismissed Middleton councillor feels '˜pounced on'

A Middleton-on-Sea parish councillor has said she feels '˜pounced' on following her recent dismissal.
Jacky Pendleton says she feels the council pounced by calling a meeting while she was on holidayJacky Pendleton says she feels the council pounced by calling a meeting while she was on holiday
Jacky Pendleton says she feels the council pounced by calling a meeting while she was on holiday

Jacky Pendleton said the council has ‘behaved in an unprecedented way’ towards her – something it has said it rejects.

As reported in the Observer, Ms Pendleton added the reason given, namely her lack of attendance for three meetings over a six month period, is ‘technically correct’ but that it was due to sickness, her inauguration as chairman of Arun District Council and a ‘well-earned’ seven-day holiday.

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“I did not realise that I was approaching a watershed of attendance and Middleton-on-Sea Parish Council saw fit to not alert me to the fact,” she added. “Instead, knowing that I had given my apologies for the meeting, they raised the item as an urgent item whilst I was on holiday. Some other councillors at the meeting were also unaware that this item was being raised and when it was, were told that there was to be no discussion on the point and there was no vote to affirm action.

“The outcome was a ‘fait accompli’.”

Ms Pendleton said the Sussex & Surrey Association of Local Councils, which she added the parish council ‘unfortunately’ do not ‘deem it necessary to belong to’, seems to support her views.

Quoting the association, she said it does not ‘regard this sort of approach as being best practice’.

Instead, she continued, it prefers ‘local councils to speak to their councillors and help them to continue to carry out their duties wherever possible’.

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Listing her work for the parish, which includes the local telephone exchange refurbishment to campaigning for better youth facilities, Ms Pendleton stated that she is ‘widely known in Middleton and beyond for getting stuff done’.

In contrast, she said: “I believe that the legislation [which allows disqualification due to six months’ non-attendance] is in place so that council members who are making no contribution to the working of the council can be removed.”

Stating that the reasons for her absence, in particular the inauguration, ‘are all minuted’, Ms Pendleton said her assumption was they ‘were accepted as valid’.

She said the lack of being spoken to regarding a ‘watershed’ felt like it was so the council could ‘pounce at the end – almost saying ‘Ha! Ha! We got you!’’

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The parish council said: “Whilst rare, this disqualification from the parish council is not unique. Some years ago, it

was necessary to disqualify another parish councillor who failed to attend any parish council meetings for six months and that councillor accepted the matter with good grace and left the council.”

The statement also refered to the ‘Good Councillors Guide’ which states ‘if a councillor fails to attend meetings for six months then they will automatically cease to be a councillor’.

It added: “The last parish council meeting Mrs Pendleton attended was on 18th January 2017. If she had not been disqualified in July, the earliest meeting she could have attended is on 20th September 2017, over eight months after her last attendance.”

The council said to assist members a list of meeting dates will be issued at the beginning of each year so that ‘they can manage their personal diaries’ and attend.