_468x0.JPG)
Kingsclere has been thrown into turmoil after all eight members of the parish council unexpectedly resigned earlier this week.
Kingsclere has been thrown into turmoil after all eight members of the parish council unexpectedly resigned earlier this week.
Friday Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council drafted in an emergency parish council, consisting of borough councillors from outside of the village.
The new parish councillors are Cllr Ranil Jayawardena, Cllr John Leek, Cllr Roger Gardiner, Cllr Paul Harvey, and Cllr Ian Tilbury.
They will be joined by borough council officers Suzanne Smith, Shella Smith, and Debbie Dewey.
Following the mass resignation, the borough’s corporate director Karen Brimacombe said in a statement: “Unfortunately this week Kingsclere parish office received a resignation from each of the eight parish councillors on Kingsclere Parish Council. This meant that the parish council was unable to function.
“In cases like this we can use powers under the Local Government Act to appoint temporary parish councillors.
“I am pleased to confirm that this has been completed and we have now executed the order appointing these temporary parish councillors. They will serve until such times as an election is held and new parish councillors appointed.”
One former parish councillor, who resigned this week, Maire Gundry, said move had been sparked by “internal problems”.
“We had a mass resignation,” said Ms Gundry. “There has been a few internal problems and the chairman [Richard Smith] couldn’t see a way out of them, and to be honest, we all felt the same and all decided to resign. We all resigned on Tuesday morning.”
_295x0.jpg)
