A Ripon City Council meeting was suspended tonight (November 10) after a series of ill-tempered clashes.

Matters came to a head when Councillor Barbara Brodigan, the mayor, ordered a five-minute suspension after she and former leader Cllr Andrew Williams locked horns.

It happened when Cllr Brodigan said she would defer a decision on an agenda item to fill vacancies and appoint a chair on the newly formed human resources committee.

Cllr Williams was unhappy about this and said he wanted to raise a “point of order”. When Cllr Brodigan asked which point of order he was referring to, the following exchange ensued:

Cllr Williams: “You cannot just personally rule that we are not taking the agenda item at all.”

Cllr Brodigan: “Which point of order, you still haven’t answered my question?”

Cllr Williams: “Dear God. I need a piece of bloody wood to bang my head against.”

Cllr Brodigan: “Sorry, bad language. That shows total disrespect.”

Cllr Williams: “I have no respect for you Cllr Brodigan, given your actions of recent weeks.”

Cllr Brodigan: “Disgraceful.”

Cllr Brodigan then ordered a five-minute break.

It was one of several unpleasant moments on another acrimonious night at the town hall. One councillor appeared visibly upset after the meeting at the level of ill feeling.

At one point a member of the public shouted out: “It’s about time you all grew up”. Another added: “It’s like a Brian Rix farce. Noel Coward would have a field day.”

After the suspension, Cllr Stuart Flatley said: “There are a few councillors bringing this council into disrepute. Please, people, look at yourself and let’s drop all the rubbish and bickering, otherwise we are not going anywhere.”

'These minutes are correct'

After a turbulent two months, which saw former mayor, Cllr Jackie Crozier resign, Cllr Brodigan succeed her, the removal of the leader’s role previously held by Cllr Williams, resignations and legal threats, tonight’s monthly full council meeting appeared less contentious.

The main agenda item was to fill vacancies on the newly formed human resources committee and appoint a chair so staff appointments could be made.

Jo Bate, who was appointed chair at an extraordinary meeting when the committee was formed on September 26, despite not being present, resigned as a councillor almost immediately afterwards.

But the council could not agree tonight how many councillors had been appointed to the committee on September 26.

The minutes from the meeting said there were six — the correctly constituted number. But the Stray Ferret reported seven — as verified by our notes and recording of the meeting.

No council recording of the meeting was taken, as all the council staff had either left or gone off sick. However, Cllr Pauline McHardy said tonight she had taken the minutes of the meeting and “these minutes are correct”.

But Cllr Williams said the minutes “could not be ratified” because they were “in direct contradiction to what the press reported that evening” and there was no council recording to clarify matters. A vote to accept the minutes was defeated by five votes to three.

'I don’t want to be part of this'

After about 30 minutes of increasingly fractious debate, which culminated in the meeting suspension, Cllr Crozier nominated Cllr Williams to the human resources committee. This was agreed but no chair was appointed.

By then Cllr Crozier had accused Cllr Brodigan of being rude and “laughing at matters in front of the public”. Cllr Brodigan denied laughing and accused Cllr Crozier of being abusive. 

Cllr Julie Martin-Long claimed Cllr Williams had accused her of dishonesty and said: “I don’t want to be part of this meeting any longer.” Cllr Williams said he had never accused her of being dishonest or disingenuous and his comments had been addressed at Cllr Brodigan.

Locum clerk Adam Chugg said it was “not an ideal situation”.