Eighteen members of the public attending a meeting of Whittlesey town council stormed out in protest after a Conservative councillor launched a bitter attack on independent councillor Peter Bibb.
Cllr Bibb described it as “a misinformed and vitriolic personal attack on me” after Cllr Elizabeth Sennitt Clough, a town and district councillor, tore him into over the future of Whittlesey tennis courts.
One member of the public present last Thursday, who did not wish to be named, said: “It all kicked off at the council meeting. There was a large public attendance, but most walked out after Sennitt Clough made an unjustified personal attack on Peter Bibb over his handling of the tennis club.
“Peter is not responsible for that. The majority of the gallery walked out in disgust.
“One of the public spoke out expressing their upset at the behaviour by Cllr Sennitt Clough but were called to order by the Mayor Cllr Alex Miscandlon before he suspended the meeting.”
The resident added: “The harsh interrogation of councillor Bibb became increasingly vitriolic and pugnacious for no obvious reason. He answered the points raised and repeatedly made it clear he was not yet responsible for the area or the access.
“As Fenland district councillors Cllr Elisabeth Sennitt Clough and Cllr Dee Laws should be well informed on the situation; the mayor/chair and Elisabeth are also part of the Friends of the Manor group. The council meeting chair and mayor also holds the district council portfolio for leisure and brought forward the agenda item to update the meeting on future use.”
One resident present was Robert Boddington who posted to a community Facebook group that “the verbal attack was totally uncalled for”.
He said “I was at that meeting as a member of the public and disgusted by the one- sided torrent of very loud verbal abuse. I walked out with the others. I have put in my letter of complaint to Carol Pilson at Fenland District Council” (Ms Pilson is monitoring officer and deals with code of conduct complaints)
Cllr Sennitt Clough, responding to him on Facebook, wrote: “I’m a scrutineer. Clearly some people do not feel that members should be challenged or questioned. That is their choice.
“I will continue to challenge and ask questions when a publicly funded facility is locked and 8 residents have contacted me to say they were unable to gain access, a further 6 contacted another councillor.”
She added: “What was uncalled for was the resident shouting as he left the room. If he cannot control himself, he should refrain from attending any more meetings.”
The meeting drew the attention of the Fenland Community Radio Newsroom who also posted their thoughts to their Facebook page.
“A packed public gallery of 25 started the evening but 18 walked out in protest after witnessing a verbal attack by one councillor on another regarding the use of the tennis courts at the Manor Centre.
“Cllr Sennitt Clough questioned Cllr Peter Bibb regarding usage of the courts and why there was very little public use. Cllr Sennitt Clough questioned financial accountability as it was the public purse that had funded the courts.
“Cllr Bibb responding, outlined that although he was a key holder he would open the facility by request from Freedom Leisure as they were currently responsible for the facility, and due to staffing issues were unable to manage the courts and no lease for the courts had been awarded to a new CIC (Community Interest Company) which is a joint venture by Whittlesey Tennis Club and Whittlesey Warriors Netball Club.”
The newsroom team added: “Cllr Bibb also responded about the tennis club membership and the amount of voluntary time that he has donated in and out of schools and that once the lease for the courts is confirmed he would see many opportunities for the public as well as club use.”
However most if not all of the vitriol could have been spared had those present either read or even attended the bi monthly meeting of Friends of the Manor on November 12 last year.
It was at that meeting that Cllr Bibb revealed the tennis club and netball club were in the processing of setting up the CIC to be known as Whittlesey Community Courts at the Manor.
The minutes of that meeting reveal that “any income generated would be towards renewal and repair with each club sharing costs and the courts would be open for public hire”.
The meeting heard that the pathway to the courts and any added facility would be well lit, and Cllr Bibb confirmed that Fenland District Council are taking responsibility for any repairs and the surface is currently fit for purpose.
Ironically at the fractious town council meeting, future use of the tennis courts was brought forward as an agenda item by the mayor/chair Cllr Miscandlon who is also Fenland District Councillor portfolio holder for leisure.
He immediately asked Cllr Bibb to provide the update. To some that seemed odd as it was the mayor listed as making the proposal on the agenda.
The community group, Friends of the Manor, meet regularly and the fate/future of the tennis courts is discussed there.
However, at its last meeting both the Mayor and Cllr Sennitt Clough, who are both in the group, failed to attend.
“This meeting would have been the best way to raise issues and stay informed on the tennis club,” said a resident who supports the Friends.
As explained to CambsNews, town councillor Peter Bibb is a community volunteer, a qualified football and tennis coach and an ex teacher.
He is attempting to set up a CIC to lease the tennis club from FDC and run it at no ongoing cost to the council.
“The lease negotiations are complex,” was how a member of the Friends group explained it.
“Currently he has no claim on the area which is controlled by Freedom Leisure and is owned by FDC (Fenland district council). There are also issues with an £85k surface FDC have installed. The surface issue has been accepted by FDC and after negotiations mitigated to a degree in the lease offer”.
For the past 15 years the courts have been unusable for tennis and the CIC proposal is intended as a solution to a problem which no councillor has sought to address in all that time.
Many feel a few months leeway to set it on good foundations with the aim long term of being Council Tax/Taxpayer neutral seems very reasonable
The resident who provided some of the insight into last Thursday’s meeting offered “another valid angle on the councillor meeting.
“Peter Bibb is a relatively new and inexperienced town councillor (unpaid volunteer) also a community group volunteer. The town is lacking people willing to stand and volunteer in community groups).
“Experienced paid district councillors should mentor and encourage new volunteers / people in the town council (which is not supposed to be party political).”
The resident added; “Peter is recovering from a hip replacement but gets no quarter given for that. Seeing experienced paid district councillors harshly interrogate and in one case verbally attack a fellow town councillor for his work as a community volunteer while he is still recovering from a major operation was awful to see.
“Why did they not chat to him and cooperate on the issue or raise it via friends of the Manor meeting, not spring a crude political trap with no real interest in the community outcome. The public saw through it I think.”
Cllr Bibb added: “I am actually qualified to coach about seven different sports and am one of the volunteers at the Whittlesey Cricket Club juniors initiative, run by our only female player, who is a level Two ECB coach.
“I have always been a champion of girls’ sport, running girls football teams when it was very unfashionable/unusual (1993 when I first came to Peterborough) which is why Cllr Sennitt Clough’s thinly veiled hints at misogyny are so hilariously misguided.”
