BIDFORD parish councillors came under fire last Tuesday night when residents accused them of being secretive and discussing village business behind closed doors.

They were abused and threatened with a takeover as villagers vented their anger over the council's failure to advertise the annual parish meeting and, as they saw it, preventing the majority having their say.

The meeting is held each year to give all electors a chance to discuss any subject of concern to them. It is called by the chairman of the council, but is NOT a council meeting and although councillors must listen to any proposition, they do not have to act on it.

This is not the same as the annual general meeting of the parish council, which is where the chairman is elected for the coming year and committee membership is agreed.

Neither meeting usually attracts much attention but with a number of major issues in the village at the moment, feelings are running high.

The meeting date has been discussed at monthly parish council meetings and was advertised on the council's noticeboard but was not on the website with other meeting dates.

The complaints began with Peter French, a member of Bidford on Avon Residents Group (BARG), which is actively fighting proposals to extend Marsh Farm quarry.

He said he had not heard about the meeting until 6pm that night and that it should have been advertised to allow "a more representative" group of people to be there.

He calmly proposed it be adjourned but his comments opened the floodgates for a tirade from the floor.

One man said: "It's not been advertised in any of the local papers and not been notified to the villagers. Do you not think you are denying our democratic right by not letting us know this was going on?

''The reason you want to keep this meeting under wraps is because you don't want to know what we think about what's going on in the village."

Councillors were accused of not earning their money, to which chairman Fred Hiscocks retorted: "We're not paid for this job."

Former parish clerk Elizabeth Kidner leapt to the council's defence, saying: "I had the privilege to be clerk to this council for 14 years and all the councillors were here for the good of the village, not for their own good. It's not fair to sit here and fire bolts at them."

Mike Bruton said: "But are they representing us? I've lived in this village for 20 odd years and they've done nowt.

''They've not stopped all the housing and we are going to have the old school knocked down. It's time the people of this village took control."

The new date for the annual parish meeting is Tuesday, June 7, at 7.30pm.

The annual general meeting of the parish council is on Monday, May 16, also at 7.30pm.

Both meetings will be held in the parish meeting room in Bramley Way.