Bingham Town Council accepts report criticising attitudes and behaviours of some members

A town council has accepted a report that criticised the attitudes and behaviours of some of its members.

A report into Bingham Town Council found that recent years had been 'damaging and expensive' and 'stained' the authority’s reputation.

The council faced a string of issues that led to some residents starting a petition requesting that Rushcliffe Borough Council take over the running of the authority.

Rushcliffe councillors will discuss the results of the Bingham Improvement Board at its cabinet meeting on June 14.

The resulting report said attitudes and behaviours were the overriding issue to the resolution of the problems.

Two of the council’s members, Francis Purdue-Horan and John Stockwood, were found to have breached the authority’s member code of conduct and both were expelled from the Conservative Party.

Documents published ahead of the meeting state that Bingham Town Council accepted the improvement report at its May 2022 meeting.

As a result of the improvement board’s report, Bingham Town Council has agreed to add the ‘civility and respect poster’ to its website.

It also supported writing a letter to the MP Robert Jenrick asking him to support an early day motion relating to the conduct of councillors toward town and parish council clerks.

An early day motion is a formal proposal submitted by an MP for debate in the House of Commons at the ‘earliest opportunity’.

The improvement board had a budget of £10,000 that was jointly funded between Bingham Town Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council.

Bingham Town Council said in a statement: “Bingham Town Council accepted the Improvement Board Report at its annual meeting held on May 24 and agreed to move forward with implementing the action plan.”