Cllr Arun Chandran Secretary of the controlling Labour Group on Great Aycliffe Town Council responds to UKIP letter:
Dear Sir,
I thank John Grant for his recent letter on the By-Election due to a resignation. Councillor Ray Bowman had been suffering ill health for some time and had not attended council meetings since 28th October last year,
I visited Ray and discussed various options in his and the public interest. Ray agreed to apply for a leave of absence and to not claim his allowance. This would have prevented a costly by election (the last one cost the Council taxpayer £9,210 and inconvenienced some schools for the day) however the next day I received an email from Ray’s wife Dorothy Bowman which reads as follows:
“Raymond has told me that you have asked him to sign a letter asking for 6 months leave of absence and to forfeit his allowance. Please do not call and ask him to sign as he does not wish to sign it when I have explained the reasons not to.
If he does anything it will be to stand down from the council which will cause a by-election but at the moment he is going to leave things as they are. Attending when he can, working/helping at the community house which he does a lot.
Regards Dorothy”
6th February.
I was rather surprised that Ray could attend the community house with his wife “a lot” but not attend a few minutes at a Council meeting to prevent a costly By Election. Following further discussion with Ray who still did not attending Council meetings, I gave him a prepared letter of resignation but post dated it a month ahead. This was with his agreement, just in case he wanted to change his mind, even though he was sure at the time that he wished to resign and create a By Election.
Once the 30th March arrived I handed in his signed letter of resignation which took immediate effect. As you now know His wife Dorothy and 9 other signatories then formally called for a costly and totally avoidable By Election which leaves no other choice open.
Whilst I am fully in favour of democracy, which you as Editor so succinctly put it in a recent editorial, it wasn’t vital to have a By Election. Ray as a Councillor could have applied for a leave of absence and not claimed his allowance, and that would have saved £9000 paid for out of Council Taxes and Ray’s £1000 allowance, money which could have gone towards other useful projects in the town
He was a Labour Councillor and Labour could manage with one less until the elections next year at no cost. I am sure when the By Election takes place on 9th June, the electors of Great Aycliffe will remember the part Dorothy Bowman played in getting her husband to resign to create the election which she then called,
Dorothy was going to stand herself then decided to put someone else forward instead. I sincerely apologise to the residents of West Ward for the cost, and the inconvenience of school disruption, but I tried my best to prevent it. I cannot stop a wife getting her husband to resign so she or someone else can stand for election.
I understand she changed her mind about standing in this By Election but will stand for the Town Council next year in the Byerley Park, Horndale and Cobblers Hall Ward. So why did she force this By Election at such cost and inconvenience or has she changed her mind again and decided to stand in the By Election she created?
Labour now thoroughly vets all its candidates to ensure only those of the highest quality and reliability stand for election.
Cllr Arun M Chandran