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25
Sept
New Ripon mayor faces vote of no confidence in parish poll
Ripon’s new mayor faces a public vote of no confidence as the city’s political turmoil continues.
Sandra Craven today (September 25) handed in a motion for a vote of no confidence in Councillor Barbara Brodigan to Ripon City Council.
Ms Craven and some other residents want to hold a parish meeting at which residents vote in a parish poll on whether they have confidence in the mayor.
Parish polls, which can be triggered by just 10 people, are not legally binding.
But the vote could be damaging to Cllr Brodigan, who is only three days into her mayoral term.
She was elected at an acrimonious extraordinary meeting on Monday, at which former leader Cllr Andrew Williams raised concerns about the legality of the move.
Previous mayor Jackie Crozier resigned before she faced a vote of no confidence from fellow councillors.
Ripon resident Brian McHugh said:
The anger of local residents with the public ousting of Cllr Jackie Crozier as mayor has prompted this call for a parish meeting to hold a parish poll. The aim will be to hold a poll of ‘No confidence in the Cllr Barbara Brodigan as Mayor of Ripon'.
As well as this, there will be a poll of ‘No confidence in Cllr Jo Bate’, as she has attended fewer than 50% of full council meetings since 2022 and, with living some 15 miles away, is not representing the people of Ripon effectively.
The receipt for the parish poll, which was handed in this morning.
Mr McHugh said Cllr Crozier had the “clear and full support” of many people in Ripon, who felt their views had been heard.
He added:
Ripon City Council has now been served with, and has accepted, the proper notice to hold a parish poll. More than 30 signatures were gathered from local Ripon electors, well above the number necessary to trigger such a parish meeting and hundreds more could have been gathered quickly and easily.
Residents feel that there remains a cloak of secrecy over the events leading to the very public criticism of the ex- mayor Cllr Crozier.
In order to move the city on, because this bitter division cannot go on indefinitely, nor can questions as to whether Mayor Brodigan has been elected legally, some residents feel that this parish poll is a suitable vehicle to evaluate public support of Cllr Brodigan.
Ripon resident Stanley Mackintosh's attempt last year to hold a parish poll over Ripon Cathedral's plans to build an annexe in Minster Gardens was rejected when he only received four votes.
The meeting heard the poll could cost about £10,000.
Ripon Cathedral later withdrew its annexe plan.
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