A change to governance to ensure the continuation of Alsager Town Council business was agreed, despite claims from two former councillors that they did not "feel able" to sit on the committees due to the "sustained bullying" they had received.

The town council approved a change to standing orders to appoint to committees by political proportionality.

However, at the annual meeting of the town council held on 4th May 2021, the Labour and Conservative parties chose not to fill their allocation to three committees:

- Finance, Policy and Governance - two Conservative vacancies

- Institute - one Labour vacancy

On 10th May 2021, two Labour councillors, Jo Dale and Julia Hawkins, resigned as town councillors.

In a statement read out by Nicola Clarke, town clerk, at last Tuesday's Alsager Town Council meeting, Mrs Dale and Mrs Hawkins claimed that they did not "put their names forward" for any committee places at the annual meeting, but instead it was Michael Unett who put their "names forward without permission".

Referring to Cllr Unett, who was recently named as the new chair of Alsager Town Council, putting them forward, the pair said: "He had no right to do this and has completely overstepped the mark yet again.

"We have never had a group leader for Labour on Alsager Town Council - Michael Unett decided with no permission from us to speak for his fellow female councillors."

The former town councillors claimed that due to the "sustained bullying" they had received during their time as elected representatives - they "did not feel able to be part of committees due to the negative impact" on their mental health.

The pair added: "We totally understand the Conservative councillors' position of not wanting to be on the finance committee - again due to these issues of bullying behaviour."

Julia Hawkins reportedly wrote a formal complaint of bullying to Cllr Rod Fletcher when he was chair of the town council.

According to Mrs Dale and Mrs Hawkins, no investigation followed and he "closed ranks and swept it under the carpet".

They continued: "We have also brought up at meetings the issue of bullying to find ourselves gaslighted by fellow councillors both in meetings and on social media.

"Those who protect bullies and condone bullying behaviour are as bad as the bullies themselves."

Cllr Fletcher told the meeting that there had been some allegations of bullying at committee meetings and in some instances even online during meetings, which happened at the December town council meeting.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats said: "Bullying is not acceptable either online or in person at meetings.

"There can be differences of opinion amongst councillors regarding what is bullying or heated democratic debate.

"Full council does have a democratic right to change or overrule committee decisions. The best arbiter on whether or not a councillor may have overstepped the mark is the town clerk or the monitoring officer.

"It has always been the practice on Alsager Town Council to support the chair whichever party she or he may represent. I urge all councillors to back our new chair during the coming year."

In response to the statement from former councillors Dale and Hawkins, Cllr Unett claimed the comments accusing himself of putting their names forward without permission was "incorrect".

Cllr Unett said: "In March, the council in its move toward political proportionality for committees resolved that parties would have to submit nominations in advance for the annual meeting.

"The move to political proportionality means that individuals no longer nominate themselves or others for committees, but that party's and groups instead nominate for their allotted committee places.

"The council did not dictate to parties how this should be decided - the onus was placed on the groups and political parties to decide the nominations and submit them in time for the annual meeting."

According to Cllr Unett, Mrs Dale and Mrs Hawkins had been "unreachable for some time and no longer communicated within the Labour group".

He agreed that there had never been a group leader for Labour on Alsager Town Council – nor had any individual "ever claimed to be one".

Cllr Unett added: "We never set up any formal structure like this – we have always tried to work as a team.

"It was clear at the time that the group would not be able to come to any agreement on nominations and with Labour party rules stating that branch meetings, or that of the constituency party could not be held during the local election campaign period, this meant that the issue could not be decided in a meeting and instead fell to the constituency party executive.

"The executive would debate and decide the nominations – this was made clear to group members and all group members were contacted asking which committees they were interested in and to involve them in the process and decision."

Cllr Alison Nayling responded, but according to Cllr Unett after "several attempts" to contact former councillors Dale and Hawkins were made, they never responded.

Cllr Unett highlighted that they also never responded to say they would not like to be put forward for any committees.

The executive reportedly came to a decision considering the responses they received, the committees members had served on for the past two civic years and "attempted to as evenly as possible divide the party's allocated places between group members".

Cllr Unett continued: "There was a process, democratically decided through our rules and processes in which Mrs Dale and Mrs Hawkins had the opportunity to be involved in but chose not to.

"You can't complain about not being part of a decision when you actively chose to absent yourself from it."

In reference to the comments on bullying and social media, Cllr Unett highlighted that he and his fellow councillors were all aware of the incident involving "abuse posted online towards himself and members of the council" last December.

Cllr Unett found the pairs statement to be "highly inflammatory".

In terms of other issues around the council and the Alsager Partnership, Cllr Unett felt the concerns were "raised and addressed" with the partnership.

He stressed that the town council were "starting to build a new positive relationship" with the partnership and he "hoped" this would continue and "succeed for the benefit of the town".

Cllr Unett concluded: "We have taken this issue [bullying] seriously as a council – which is why we adopted the Cheshire Anti-Bullying Charter earlier this year and it will be my hope that we will continue to adhere to this and implement it – setting an example for our communities.

"It is clear that statements like this are not helpful - they waste council and officer time at what is a crucial moment for this council and our town.

"It will be my hope and determination that we move forward, find common ground and where there are differences, debate with civility and come to decisions in the best interests of our residents.

"That is what we must do, that is what the people of Alsager elected us to do."

The resignations of Dale and Hawkins "further exacerbated the fragility of the committees" with one more Labour vacancy on every committee.

The town council now had the issue that every committee was short of members with the potential to be inquorate at every meeting and "danger that the town council would cease to function as no decisions would be made at committee level".

For example, Finance, Policy and Governance Committee has just six members at this point (should be nine) with a quorum of four. No councillor stood for either chair or vice-chair.

There was a possibility that this "vital" committee would not function. In addition, it is a requirement of the Town Council's Financial Regulations that the chair of Finance, Policy and Governance Committee is a signature on the bank mandate.

Council payments could be suspended if the requisite number of councillors is unavailable.

A council can decide on a committee structure through its standing orders. They can be varied or revoked as the council decides.

There is no statutory quorum for a committee, the common law quorum is two councillors, and the desirable minimum is three councillors.

The reason why the desired number is three is that with a casting vote, the chairman of a committee of two would always win with a contested vote.

In order to continue the business of the council, in filling committee places, councillors agreed to follow party political proportionality and if a party wished to recoup a vacancy, they could fill that at anytime.

If there was a vacancy for a councillor either by co-opt or a by-election, then a review of political proportionality would be taken, and allocations of seats would be taken at the next town council meeting.

If a member resigned from their party or changed their political party, then that would trigger a review of the political proportionality for that civic year.

This motion was passed with seven councillors voting in favour and four voting against.