Apologies after testy exchanges at Arun council meeting

With an agenda so large the virtual meeting had to be split across two Wednesday evenings this month.

At the start of the second occasion, Amanda Worne, chairman of the council, said she had found chairing the electronic meetings quite hard and although she was not the most experienced she was trying her hardest to be fair, stay calm and considering the needs of everyone.

But three hours in tempers flared.

After being denied to speak on several occasions, Grant Roberts (Con, Arundel and Walberton) accused the chairman of being ‘intent on trying to shut me down’.

He said: “I know the constitution way better than you do and I would suggest you take the time to study it. This again has been another shambles and I’m afraid to say a lot of it has been led by yourself.”

At this point Lib Dem council leader James Walsh could be heard to say ‘disgraceful’.

Cllr Roberts then told Dr Walsh to shut up, adding: “Residents are watching, they want this council to be effective, to be run properly and run by the constitution.”

The meeting was then adjourned for five minutes when apologies were exchanged off camera.

Afterwards Cllr Roberts said that after Cllr Worne had apologised to him he wanted to apologise to her.

He explained: “I have been getting frustrated being shut down, but I believe it was an overspill and I would like to formally apologise to Cllr Worne and it was probably not the right wording to tell Cllr Walsh to shut up.

“I’m prepared to draw a line under it and let’s work together and be respectful of each other.”

Cllr Worne responded: “Thank you Cllr Roberts that’s appreciated and that’s all I want that all of us work together.”

Shaun Gunner, leader of the Conservative group, thanked Cllr Worne for her chairing of the meeting and said he hoped to discuss ways to improve the running of virtual meetings when the council’s group leaders next meet.

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