Panic On The Streets Of Yarm?

A Letter to the Editor from former Town Clerk Terry CHAPMAN, applying some local colour (not blue!) to the controversy surrounding one Councillor’s desire to turn Yarm into an election-free zone – plus an insightful social media comment from a local historian.

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Sir,

In a now deleted social media post one of the ‘Councillors’ recently appointed by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council (SBC) to Yarm Town Council (YTC), Cllr Andrew Sherris [Con.], bemoaned the likely cost of holding local elections to fill Councillor vacancies in Yarm. What price democracy? However, what Cllr Sherris fails to mention is that the person most central in causing the resignations is his fellow Conservative SBC colleague and former Town Council Chairman, Cllr John Coulson.

Indeed, it was Cllr Coulson himself that led the recent flurry of resignations from YTC, including himself and 6 other Town Council members. The recent shenanigans on YTC are, therefore, to be placed squarely at the door of Yarm Conservatives.

It is rather disappointing that an experienced Borough Councillor, such as Cllr Sherris, would speak so mischievously about Town Council matters.

Surprisingly, Cllr Sherris also suggested that the responsibility for electing new Councillors to YTC should NOT fall on electors at all. Fearful of a democratic resolution, Sherris prefers that he, along with two other Conservative Councillors appointed by SBC to YTC, plus Cllr John Coulson, should be the sole arbiters of who is to sit on Yarm Town Council. He wants the 4 SBC Conservative Councillors to decide, without reference to the will of the electors of Yarm! What price democracy, indeed!

It is quite astonishing:

1) that SBC saw fit to re-appoint Cllr Coulson a matter of weeks after he resigned;

2) that Cllr Coulson had the audacity to accept this re-appointment;

3) that Cllr Sherris should object to elections being held to fill the vacant posts.

The biggest astonishment of all, perhaps, is that:

4) Councillor Sherris feels it appropriate that he, the now discredited Cllr Coulson, and two other Conservative SBC appointees should be the sole arbiters of who sits on YTC.

It is the voters who decide such things and not a cabal of Conservative Councillors cozying up to Stockton Council. If Yarm does have a Town Council, the last thing Yarm needs is a Council of cronies.

Finally, it is surely no coincidence that the “threat” of democratic elections taking place in Yarm seems to have spurred interest from the MP Matt Vickers, who has instigated an online poll asking a question many have been asking for a long time: Should YTC be abolished?

Whilst the poll poses a fair question, it is clearly a panicky knee-jerk political response based upon fear. The Stockton West MP is clearly nervously looking at the other polls and sees how well Reform UK are doing.

It would, perhaps, be a bitter irony for Mr Vickers to swallow if the recent resignation of the Tory Chairman from Yarm Town Council resulted in Reform UK gaining a significant say in the running of a Town Council in the political heart of his constituency.

Bring on the Yarm Town Council elections!

Yours, etc,

Terry Chapman