Raucous meeting sees Tory councillors likened to the Taliban
ACCUSATIONS AND INSULTS FLY BETWEEN PARTIES
CONSERVATIVE councillors were compared to the Taliban and accused of being misogynistic during a typically raucous Amber Valley Borough Council meeting.
The Derbyshire council covering Ripley, Heanor, Belper and Alfreton is the frequent host of heated debates, with accusations hurled between the two major parties, the Conservative administration and Labour opposition.
Wednesday evening was no exception, despite a call from Father John Page at the start of the meeting for councillors to be “slow to speak and eager to listen”.
In an argument over which topics of questions could be asked following the council leader’s update, Cllr John McCabe (Labour) said: “Oh, so the Taliban has arrived in Amber Valley has it.”
This caused an immediate reaction from the Conservative administration, who called for an apology, but this was not forthcoming.
Cllr Kevin Buttery, leader of the authority, claimed a Labour plan to pull grant funding from the Belper North Mill Trust was pulled so that Cllr Ben Bellamy (Labour group leader) “did not have to go and tell his wife (a volunteer at the trust) he is taking money off them”.
Cllr Bellamy called this “disgusting” and demanded an apology, but this was not forthcoming.
During an argument over the size of the council, which is currently the subject of a boundary review and may reduce its number of councillors, Cllr Bellamy told Cllr Buttery: “You wouldn’t know the truth if it ran you over.”
This caused Cllr Chris Short (Conservative) to say “I believe that demands an apology”, to which Cllr Bellamy responded “I think I am owed several apologies tonight”. During the final hour of the meeting, Labour councillors aimed questions at the Conservative administration.
Cllr Eileen Hamilton (Labour) spoke at length about garden waste collections being suspended in the borough and the lack of communication between the authority and residents, including herself.
She was repeatedly asked by Cllr David Taylor, the Tory Mayor chairing the meeting, and shouted at by Conservative councillors, to hurry her speech along and to ask a question with less prelude. In response to a question on the future of the Derwent
Valley Mills World Heritage Site, Cllr Tony Harper (Conservative) spoke for seven uninterrupted minutes.
This led to Cllr Emma Monkman (Labour) said that it could be viewed as “misogynistic” that Cllr Hamilton was repeatedly hurried along during her speech, when Cllr Harper was allowed to speak for seven uninterrupted minutes.
Later on, Cllr Buttery was allowed to speak much longer than five minutes (the usual limit for a speech) without interruption while discussing funding for CCTV cameras.
Cllr Dave Wells (Green Party) also asked Cllr Buttery to speak up so that he could hear.
This caused Cllr Buttery to say: “If I shout I get accused of being aggressive, or whatever, but I can shout and be like my usual self, if you prefer.”
Labour councillors reacted loudly to this insinuation.
Cllr Hamilton said: “I totally agree with Cllr Monkman, I think that it is about time that you let us women talk for as much time as you gentlemen.”
Cllr Taylor, chairing the meeting, said: “Women can look after themselves, have you met my wife?”
Meanwhile, councillors clashed over who is responsible for the authority’s troubled financial position, with arguments over the effectiveness or worth of the authority’s budget recovery plans.
Cllr Paul Lobley said the plan, which is almost identical to Labour’s plan before the council changed control in May, was “aspirational to the very limit of aspiration” and was “almost pie in the sky time”.
The Conservative plan aims to achieve the full extent of required savings a year earlier than the Labour plan, by March 2024.
Cllr Bellamy said: “This is Labour’s plan with a year shaved off.”