Resignation call falls on deaf ears

Malvern Town Council has met and agreed a corporate response to the parish poll, in which 92 per cent of people voting supported the call for councillors to resign and seek re-election on the basis of their spending plans.

A statement was approved in which the council said it was forced to increase taxes to "provide best value services and to meet the necessary standards of health and safety expected of any local authority".

It added that its consultants KPMG had advised that it had been "under-staffed and under-funded" since 1997 and faced "a very difficult situation" after the election last year. It has since "developed effective management practices", it went on and urged the public to play a part in the work of the council.

It finished by attacking the Malvern Town Action Group, instigators of the poll, for "deplorable actions" and "destructive megaphone diplomacy through the local media".

Deputy mayor Whinray Coates said staff in particular had suffered during the council's problems and described its opponents as "anarchists".

One councillor voted against, the Priory ward member Roger Hall-Jones, who said: "It rather staggers me that we are sitting here and no-one has anything to say to one of the most momentous votes taken in local government in Malvern in anyone's memory".

He added: "You have convinced absolutely nobody in Malvern of this council's actions, all the Malvern Mailboxes that went out, all the questionnaires, you convince nobody."

He described the poll result as a "landslide" and added that only "200 and something" people had voted in favour of council policies, asking how many of those were taken up with councillors, staff and their families.

Coun Graham Myatt urged the authority to try and move forward, which includes listening to the views of MTAG.

"I think we have to realise there is a body of opinion, whether we like it or not, which does not like the policies this council has adopted," he said.