It stems mainly from the gateway calming installation which was funded by delegated budget. The proposal was offered to Sambourne and unanimously accepted by SPC.
Subsequently, the Errant Councillor (EC) stubbornly refused to accept the fact that the verge at Middletown is too narrow to satisfy the gateway regulations.
He decided to devote himself to causing trouble not only within Sambourne Parish Council (SPC) but throughout Sambourne.
The EC was one of the admin of the local Facebook page (Sambourne and Middletown Matters (S&MM) started in 2016); he used it as a vehicle for his own ends.
In 2019 a series of hurtful personal remarks were made about SPC members collectively with regard to the provision of play equipment in The Rec.
He recruited several neighbours to his cause and in 2020 and 2021, he and these people posted on Facebook criticising SPC and indeed questioning the integrity of its members and the clerk.
This quickly escalated to include inaccurate and misleading comments on: the gateway calming scheme, delegated budget, appropriate allocation of resources and local flooding. Each of these sadly included deliberate misrepresentation of reality and vexatious questions and remarks. The situation was made even worse when the UK was subjected to the "lockdown".
The EC was a councillor for some of this period. He rejected four attempts of reconciliation by SPC and finally resigned in late 2020. This was in the face of number of serious complaints about him which then "fell away".
Much of the misleading material came from the EC.
He clearly had an agenda: to inflict as much damage as possible on SPC.
One of the administrators, in an effort to restore order and purpose to the FaceBook group, removed a block of the most contentious material
(SPC were blamed!).
It was later decided by administration to archive and close the page.
The combination of "Sambourne and Middletown" currently sports two members-only FaceBook pages.
In July 2021 the title S&MM was re-opened as a new Facebook page. It currently has 750 members starting from scratch.
Some time later (July 2022), the Errant Councillor de-archived what was S&MM but had to change the group name as the title was no longer available.
The retrieved contents - members list and posts - became Sambourne and Middletown Chatters (S&MC).
It claims 900 members but how many came from what was originally the S&MM page? Recent research indicates that there are just over 100 actual new members.
It is ironic that many of the original cohorts have deserted the EC and some have openly criticised him and the FaceBook page which he administers.
Indeed one of those who about-faced was co-opted onto Sambourne PC in July 2024; indeed a road-to-Damascus moment ...
- Not interested, belong to neither
- Swayed by content or simply curious - belong to one or the other
- Hedge their bets, belong to both
At the September 2021 meeting of SPC, preceded by a list of meaningless "changes" and assurances by the chairman, the EC via a proxy made the following statement: "The campaign that I have led, to throw light on unacceptable behaviour and attitudes within the Parish Council, has been successful ... I hope there now can begin a process of healing and reconciliation and that we can all move on to more peaceful times in our beautiful village."
Again, the EC succumbs here to the temptation to exaggerate. Where was the supporting evidence of "unacceptable behaviour and attitudes"? The Parish Council had already acqiesced in the item prior to the EC's statement. Further, the actual statement must have been agreed beforehand. At its conclusion SPC looked demurely downwards and said absolutely nothing. This was complete acceptance of the unfounded accusations. They had caved in.This action in itself was a green light to the EC - seeing SPC are weak they will now be the focus of his delusonal attention.
Witness subsequent events ... for the next three years and more.
The aspiration above was not reinforced by the EC's subsequent behaviour. Despite his self-declared success the EC has since formulated more complaints against SPC ; some involving the police. No crime has been detected, in particular there is no evidence for hate crime. Yet the EC still bandies the accusations as if there was some sort of cover-up.
There are those who advocate simply "moving on". Clearly these people should examine the facts.
This individual is an obsessive narcissist and must be exposed to call a halt to his groundless campaign.
An insight into his true intentions is evident in his post on social media in December 2023
