‘Disruptive’ Conservative party member banned from Denby Dale Parish Council meetings

Dec 11 2010 by Nick Lavigueur, Hudd Sat

A LOCAL political activist has been banned from parish council meetings after he was branded as “disruptive”.

David Cook, chairman of the Denby Dale branch of the Dewsbury Constituency Conservative Association, has been officially excluded from meetings of Denby Dale Parish Council for six months (writes Nick Lavigueur).

Mr Cook, who tried to set up a rival parish council in 2006, has been at odds with the Skelmanthorpe-based authority for many years and was finally banned after repeated outbursts during the councillors’ only agenda items.

Minutes on the Denby Dale Parish Council website claim Mr Cook “interrupted proceedings” and continued to talk despite being asked to desist on three occasions earlier this year.

He was sent a warning letter after outbursts in January and February but in July he was again ejected from a meeting, taking “some time before he agreed to leave”.

Mr Cook told the Express & Chronicle that the decision was “an assault on reason” and said he was looking into the validity of it.

He said the conflict had occurred because he had been challenging the council’s method of co-opting new parish councillors in private, which he claimed was against the rules.

He said: “What you’ve got to remember is Denby Dale Parish Council is not a parish council in the true sense.

“There hasn’t been an election in 10 years, they have to keep co-opting people. It’s a bit like musical chairs, every time I’m told to leave for them to discuss co-opting a councillor I stand up and say ‘Mr chairman, are you sure what you are doing is right and proper?’ in the full knowledge that it’s not. They’ve concluded that is disruption.”

But the Denby Dale Parish Council chairman, Kelvyn Waites, said the council had taken advice from the Yorkshire Local Councils’Association (YLCA) before making the decision.

He said: “We took the decision on the basis that he has interfered with meetings over a protracted period of time. It wasn’t just one incident. The last incident was the last straw.

“Members of the public are invited to attend our meetings, but are not allowed to speak or involve themselves in the business of the meeting. We had to make a point that it’s not allowed.”

Parish councillor Graham Turner, said he hoped the decision wouldn’t deter other members of the public from going to the council’s meetings.

He said: “It’s not good for democracy (to ban people), but it’s also not good for democracy when you’ve got someone who breaks the law by interrupting meetings all the time. His behaviour is uncivilised and he’s been very rude to both Kelvyn and the clerk.

Kirklees councillor Jim Dodds said it was a difficult decision for the councillors.

Clr Dodds, who was recently co-opted onto the parish council, said: “I think the parish council was quite within its rights to do what it did, as from what I hear he was quite disruptive. I think everybody should be allowed to have their say, but should do it within the correct part of the meeting.

But Denby Dale Tory councillor John Cook said the decision to exclude his cousin was unfair. He said: “I don’t think he was actually as disruptive as they’ve reported. He’s very passionate about the area and has been his whole life.

In 2006 David Cook launched Denby Parish Community Action Group amid claims residents of Denby, Birdsedge and High Flatts were dissatisfied with the service levels provided by Denby Dale Parish Council.

The group was backed by Clr Jim Dodds and secured a £10,000 lottery grant and £4,500 from the Yorkshire Rural Community Council (YRCC) as it bid to write its own ‘parish plan’.

But last year Mr Cook was forced to return the whole lottery grant and £3,564 of the YRCC money after the group failed to get its parish plan off the ground.