Residents of the Ancient Town are upset at a decision by Icklesham Parish Council to co-opt a non-resident to represent Winchelsea ward, despite there being applications from up to five residents of the town. Their annoyance has been compounded by the fact that the new councillor was co-opted by the votes of councillors from other wards over the votes cast by councillors who represent or are resident in Winchelsea, all of whom voted for candidates who are also residents.
At a meeting of the Council this week, Patsy Hollands of Winchelsea Beach was co-opted to be the new councillor for Winchelsea ward, to fill the casual vacancy left by another co-opted resident of Winchelsea Beach, Clive Pope. Mrs Hollands was voted into office by the ward councillors for Icklesham, Winchelsea Beach and Rye Harbour. The council rejected applications by three residents of Winchelsea. Two others had withdrawn their applications before the meeting, one in favour of the other candidates, whom he felt were better qualified, and the other because of sudden ill health.
Eyebrows have been raised further in Winchelsea because the rejected candidates were exceptionally well qualified. One is the chief executive of a national charity, a trustee and organiser of the Rye Arts Festival, a doctor in semiotics and was involved in the reconstruction of civil society in the Balkans. Another is a semi-retired consultant with an extensive experience in the public service and a former school governor. The third was a former councillor who had served almost three terms on the council (yours truly). All are actively involved in Winchelsea clubs, societies and community campaigns. The successful candidate explained that she had "a background in education" but had not been involved in anything in Winchelsea and was connected with the town by the fact that her grand-daughter had attended the primary school there.
Icklesham Parish Council had delayed the decision to co-opt a new councillor until the latest meeting, despite having received several applications well ahead of their previous meeting. Mrs Hollands did not apply, according to one councillor, until last weekend and after the deadline for applications.
Some in Winchelsea have suggested that the latest co-option follows a pattern. Thus, the councillor being replaced, non-resident Clive Pope, had himself been co-opted in preference to a Winchelsea resident at a hastily-called special meeting of the council about a year ago. Before that, Icklesham Parish Council had co-opted a resident of Icklesham, Mrs Anne Rumsey, as ward councillor for Winchelsea instead of two Winchelsea applicants. One of the rejected candidates on that occasion had applied repeatedly for several months beforehand but the parish clerk at that time claimed not to have received two of his applications and to have mislaid a third. When a date for a decision was eventually agreed by the council, it did not in fact appear on the agenda of that meeting, but was deferred for another three weeks. It was during that time that Mrs Rumsey first communicated her interest in standing as a councillor. The location of the meeting at which the decision was taken was then moved at short notice, and for no valid reason, from Winchelsea to Icklesham by the council chairman, Mrs Corinne Merricks, a friend and neighbour of Mrs Rumsey.
The irony is that Icklesham Parish Council cannot attract enough interest at elections from residents of Icklesham, Winchelsea Beach and Rye Harbour to fill all the seats reserved for those wards and tends to fill these seats with Winchelsea residents who have been rejected by voters in Winchelsea. Thus, for Icklesham ward, the council co-opted Winchelsea resident, Peter Turner, who has not been able to get elected in Winchelsea ward. For Winchelsea Beach, the council co-opted Tony Moore of Winchelsea, who no longer even stands for election in the town following electoral defeat and the scandal over the use of public funds to repair his Grade II-listed property. Meanwhile, Rye Harbour also relies on a resident of Winchelsea Beach, Jacqueline Stanford, who will not stand for her own ward. It has previously also relied on a resident of Rye.
Photo: Richard Comotto
