Deputy mayor of Bury St Edmunds Cllr Paul Hopfensperger accuses town council of breaking the rules

A town council stands accused of failing to play by the rules after one of its members was forced to leave a committee meeting last week.

Cllr Paul Hopfensperger, deputy mayor of Bury St Edmunds, said he was ejected from the town council’s mayoral advisory committee meeting on Wednesday after a motion was passed to exclude all members of the public.

Cllr Hopfensperger, who was the only person observing the meeting at the council offices on Angel Hill, said he was ‘in shock’ when he was then asked to leave.

“Any elected member is allowed to sit in on any meeting of that council so it didn’t even occur to me that they meant me. In that situation, I was not a member of the public,” he said.

He added that legislation states members of the public are only to be excluded from council meetings when confidential information is being discussed - something that he said was not due to happen at the time.

Later that evening, at a full council meeting, Cllr Hopfensperger announced he would report Cllr Diane Hind, who is a member of the committee, and the town council clerk to West Suffolk Council's monitoring officer for disrespect.

The council declined to comment and Cllr Hind said she was unable to comment at this time.

The full council meeting also saw a call made for more council staff due to its current three employees - whose hours total that of 2.5 full time staff - being ‘stretched’.

Cllr Cliff Waterman proposed the increase in staff - a suggestion which was supported by other members.

Cllr Richard Rout said: “We have to look at this.We’ve gone from one extreme of having lots of staff in the past to another. It’s time to revisit this.”

Greg Luton, council clerk, added that the matter might be best addressed after the council’s upcoming move to The Guildhall offices in Whiting Street is completed.

Cllr Donna Higgins’ idea to introduce the ‘Play Streets’ initiative in the town saw councillors throw their weight behind the scheme. It would see quiet residential streets occasionally turned into ‘play streets’ where children can play safely, with the aim to get children outdoors.

Councillors also voted unanimously in support of Cllr Hopfensperger’s plans to install a defibrillator in an abandoned BT phone box on the Howard estate.