Allegations of bullying from some members of Alsager Partnership's management team were discussed as both the partnership and town council plan to meet to reach a "compromise agreement".

The Alsager Partnership Review Panel recommended that the town council provided no further funding to the partnership for the remainder of the financial year 2020/21.

To date, the partnership has received two of their four quarterly payments for this financial year. They requested £7,800, which would be one quarterly payment for the remainder of the year.

Nub News previously reported that councillors who sat on the Alsager Partnership Review Panel had recommended that the panel is closed with immediate effect following the abuse they had received.

At last Tuesday's Alsager Town Council meeting, councillors discussed the funding request.

Cllr Jane Hearne, who sits on the Partnership Review Panel, read out a statement: "The council and the partnership are very similar and that they both require the efforts of key people to work unpaid for the benefit of Alsager.

"Fortunately, both parties want the partnership to continue because historically they have been good for the village. The council review panel has commended the volunteers of the partnership for all the great work they do for Alsager and its residents and we totally support them.

"As we all know this year has been different and difficult for everyone, the fallout from Covid-19 has had a massive effect with families going hungry, people being furloughed or made redundant and businesses closing down.

"Because of this I feel the partnership are a major organisation to pick up the pieces when all this is over and make the residents of Alsager feel welcomed and safe to enjoy functions back into the village."

Cllr Hearne highlighted that in order for the review panel to make an informed decision regarding the release of public funds to support the partnership, they used a legal Service Level Agreement (SLA) document, which identified what information the partnership are required to provide i.e. action plans, financial breakdown of grant required, quarterly reports and audited accounts.

Cllr Hearne added: "So far this year, in September 2020 the action plan and financial breakdown was not received, that was a failure of the SLA.

"In October 2020, the partnership asked for an extension, which was accepted by the review panel, but only a letter of intent was received by the extended date, which triggered a further extension being agreed.

"In November 2020 the correct documentation was received."

The Conservative councillor continued: "John Poulson feels the management team of the partnership follow the spirt of the SLA, I do not understand how he can make this statement when they have failed eight requirement responsibilities.

"Mr Poulson and Cllr Derek Hough feel the partnership review panel has received audited accounts this year, but we disagree.

"The partnership has requested the quarter two and quarter four payments to be paid for them to continue this financial year. They want to keep the £15,000 in their account and the balance at the end of the year to be carried forward to next year along with the £12,000 [funding request for next year]."

Cllr Hearne told the committee that the review panel had been previously informed by the partnership that the quarter two payment was not required.

Cllr Hearne claimed that Mr Poulson has advised that there would be less than £500 in the partnership's reserves if the town council did not provide the quarter two and quarter four funding.

She added: "I disagree, their end of year balance using their financial information leaves them with over £8,000 credit.

"Unfortunately, the partnership had left their carry over balance of £25,000 from their 2019/20 absent from their calculations.

"If the quarter two and quarter four money is released, please advise me on how we answer the following; how do we explain to the electorate that we have handed over money when no physical events have taken place this year or are any further events planned.

"That in failing eight points of the SLA, if the council hands over funds, then we as a council are failing the SLA. By requesting the full £12,000 on 1st April fails the SLA because it is supposed to be paid quarterly.

"No funds have been raised this year due to Covid-19, yet other organisations like the Alsager Round Table have continued to raise additional funds."

Cllr Hearne pointed out that the town council is funding office space worth £6,500 per annum despite the partnership previously having free space available to them at an office based in Sandbach up until six years ago.

The partnership has been granted GRIPP accreditation and Cllr Hearne queried why the partnership could provide requested information to GRIPP, for a certificate, but not the review panel for grant funding and follow a legal document.

Cllr Hearne continued: "The meetings this year have been increasingly uncomfortable, stressful and intimidating at the hands of the partnership management team.

"All requests are met with negative and disrupting emails, agreement and then non-delivery of requested data, the whole partnership management team turned up to a meeting to intimidate the review panel when the grant request had been reduced.

"I was advised that £35,000 was a drop in the ocean for the council to give to the partnership, this is our biggest grant allocation. When we asked for bank statements and audited accounts, one of the management team got up and stormed out, this for all of us was very upsetting and unprofessional.

"In summary, the partnership may be a well-meaning organisation, but we have seen the actions of both Cllr Hough and Mr Poulson with their belief that they have the god given right to be given public funding without providing any information requested is simply not conducive to a good relationship going forward.

"They do not show their fine organisation in a good light or do their members justice. In my opinion I feel some members of the management team have bullied, are disrespectful and unprofessional towards the review panel and have put pressure on us at every opportunity.

"Their behaviour can no longer be condoned by the council, and if they wish to continue to have a relationship with us for funding, then the best thing would be for them to go through the grants process to keep consistency with all other Alsager organisations.

"It has been a stressful and upsetting time being on the review panel, I put all the negativity at the feet of the partnership and I hope they take a good hard look at themselves and improve their behaviour going forwards."

Cllr Derek Hough, who is the town council representative for the partnership, refuted Cllr Hearne's allegations of bullying and reminded councillors that apart from the project manager, all partnership members were volunteers just like the review panel.

Cllr Hough recently contacted Jackie Weaver, from the Cheshire Association of Local Councils (ChALC) and told her the situation between the review panel and the partnership "could not continue".

Cllr Hough circulated a document at the last review panel meeting from Ms Weaver, which recommended the "council might consider that would be content to have the partnership report direct to the council itself or one of its committees".

Cllr Hough added on Ms Weaver's recommendation: "That was a very sensible idea. It got to the stage that the panel were believing that they made a decision, but they do not.

"If we want the partnership to continue, we have got to fund them. The work that goes into the partnership is phenomenal."

Cllr Sue Helliwell, who was speaking as the ex-chair of the Alsager Partnership Review Panel, said: "The review panel on numerous occasions have asked for audited accounts and they have never been provided. Previously the town council has also asked for audited accounts in our own town council meetings.

"It is disappointing and saddening, however, I am not surprised to see a member of this town council and a member of the Alsager Partnership management team contact a local council association to attack his fellow councillors and an officer within the council.

"After receiving communication from the executive of ChALC, they state they had a brief telephone conversation with Cllr Hough and our town clerk sent her the documents listed in the report.

"ChALC did not reach out to the review panel and this is disappointing, it is also disappointing that they did not have all the background information, it saddens us that throughout our time on the review panel, the guidance we have received has been called into account by Cllr Hough.

"The volunteers of Alsager Partnership have done a wonderful job, we are in unprecedented times, residents are being furloughed, businesses are struggling, it is a real insult to residents that we are being asked to pay part of their grant when they have not adhered to the SLA."

According to Cllr Helliwell, the Alsager Partnership said in 2015 that the SLA, which was signed by both the organisation and the town council would "show both parties working together to achieve the same vision".

Cllr Helliwell added: "Unfortunately that has not happened."

John Poulson, chair of Alsager Partnership, sent an email to the town council ahead of the meeting, which highlighted what the consequences of having no further funding would have on the organisation.

Town Clerk, Nicola Clarke, read out the email at the meeting on Mr Poulson's behalf: "Regarding the resolution to approve the panel's decision to stop any further funding of the partnership, I would like to inform the town council of the impact that would have on the partnership's ability to continue to operate.

"No more funding from the town council will see Alsager Partnership unable to operate and we would have to plan its closure before the end of March 2021.

"We have to protect funds for specific projects, the dementia friendly community fund which has been accrued through fundraising and sponsorship, which has been independent of the town council funding, in fact we do not ask for any funding from the town council for the activities to provide for those living in Alsager with dementia.

"Our youth forum brings together a variety of resources young and old who have a plan to deliver projects to the youngsters of Alsager, we received a grant of £1,000 from the town council and £500 from other sources.

"Although we can ensure these funds remain untouched until needed the above projects cannot function without our operating costs being funded.

"Our office in Alsager will close and we will have a major exercise to dispose of assets that we have stored there plus other items stored in various locations in Alsager.

"We will no longer be able to maintain our web or social media presence, which has 6,000 followers. Our planned introduction of a business forum to create a platform for all Alsager businesses to interact and support town council initiatives will not materialise.

"The town council ask for our accounts to be audited and an independent examination of our accounts was carried out in August and I issued copies to the review panel.

"Every quarterly report states what we have done and provides a financial summary and our monthly management team meeting minutes are uploaded onto the Alsager Partnership website for anybody to view.

"The partnership meets all responsibilities defined in Section 8 of the Service Level Agreement. Alsager Partnership has achieved such a lot for our community over the years, attracting upwards of 20,000 visitors into our town and we do not want to see all of our efforts curtailed."

Before the town council made a decision, Mr Poulson wanted the town council to consider the following;

- To provide funding for the quarter four payment with payment in January 2021 with the option for Alsager Partnership to increase their 2021/22 funding request of £12,000 to no more than £15,000 should their finances at the end of March 2021 "fall short of expectations".

Cllr Pauline Hubbard was "saddened" to see two "extreme" differing views on the situation and felt it was "difficult to absorb all the information" provided and then make an assessment.

Cllr Hubbard added: "I do not want to see us lose the partnership in Alsager."

The Liberal Democrat councillor wanted fellow councillors to consider the implications turning down the funding request would bring and "how on earth" the town council would "replace" what the partnership provides.

Cllr June Buckley, who is the town council's ward representative on the Alsager Partnership, said: "I think John Poulson is a very hardworking man for the community, but having worked with him seven years ago at the partnership, I know he can also be very difficult."

The Cheshire East councillor did not understand why Mr Poulson signed the Service Level Agreement because she felt it was focused "much more" on finances rather than the ambitions of the town council.

Cllr Buckley hoped that in the future the town council could have an "amicable" meeting with the partnership to discuss ambitions moving forward.

Cllr Buckley felt that the partnership and the review panel had both "worked hard", but there was "fault on both sides".

Cllr Michael Unett was "baffled" that the town council was in this position and he was "equally disappointed" that the partnership had breached the SLA eight times this year, but with the review panel taking the decision to disband, Cllr Unett felt that the panel was also dropping its responsibilities to the SLA by stepping down.

The Labour councillor did not feel he was in a position to make a financial decision on whether to give any further funding to the partnership at the meeting based on the information provided.

Cllr Helliwell responded: "To quote some members of the panel, we just about had enough, the constant barrage we have had at meetings from some of the partnership management team has been unacceptable."

Cllr Julia Hawkins said: "The partnership have been given numerous opportunities to provide information in line with the SLA and they were the ones that did not do that and that is what has got us to where we are now.

"As a town council, we are in a position where we are guardians of the public purse and we have to take that responsibility very, very seriously and the Alsager Partnership do get a large amount of taxpayers money.

"We would be remiss in our responsibilities if we were not putting under extreme scrutiny exactly what was happening with that money. It seems to me that in the past that has not happened and there seems to be a bit of resentment at the fact that is being asked for.

"But unfortunately, just because something has always been done in a particular way, that does not make it okay.

"Having spoken to people after review panel meetings, seeing the actual emotional state they are in, I would like to say that bullying is never acceptable, and we should not tolerate it."

Cllr Hough wanted to know what the bullying accusations were.

Cllr Buckley responded: "Was it passive aggressive bullying because that is very difficult to deal with and I have certainly had to deal with that in my time in relation to the partnership.

"I am sorry to be saying it, but it has brought it home tonight, they [Alsager Partnership] do excellent work, but somebody having a big shout at you and throwing something at you is one thing, but when you just feel all your hard work is being frozen out, listening to Cllr Hearne tonight, it opened a few wounds for me."

Cllr Hough claimed the allegations of bullying coming from members of the review panel came from a meeting which himself and Cllr Buckley did not attend.

Cllr Ron Tyson, who also sits on the review panel, proposed a meeting between the town council and Alsager Partnership representatives as one "final attempt" to "try and resolve this and come to a compromise agreement".

Cllr Julian Goodrich, who has attended the last two panel meetings as a visiting councillor, felt the partnership did not respond to deadlines in between meetings and the SLA was "ignored when the partnership perceived fit".

He also commented that the issue of providing auditing accounts had been an ongoing issue since he became a councillor over a year ago.

Cllr Jo Dale, who also sits on the review panel, felt the committee was put in an "impossible" situation due to the "repeated breaches of the SLA agreement".

Cllr Dale added: "In these difficult times, why should we be asking residents to pay in their council tax for events that will not happen, it is an insult to those residents.

"Cllr Hough has just tried to mansplain the way some of the panel feels by the way they have been treated by members of the management committee; he does not know how we are feeling.

"I found being part of the panel a stressing and upsetting experience at times and that should explain to fellow councillors why we do not wish to put ourselves through this anymore, we have had enough."

Cllr Unett proposed that deciding on the partnership's funding request for the remainder of this financial year was deferred. Cllr Hubbard agreed with Cllr Unett's proposal but wanted a meeting between both parties to be arranged as well.

Cllr Phil Williams felt the town council needed to take responsibility "collectively" for what happened and to needed to act "collectively" to ensure this would not happen again.

The ward councillor felt that eight breaches of the SLA was "pretty serious" and referred to the "three strikes and you're out" rule, however, he wanted a line drawn underneath the issues because he felt it did not reflect well on the town council.

Cllr Williams added: "Let's get together and thrash this thing out once for all, try and leave all the personalities out and actually get some clarity about what we are going to do."

Cllr Buckley highlighted that there was a "big difference" between Cllr Hearne's calculation of £8,000 left in the partnership's account compared to organisation's prediction of £500.

Cllr Helliwell queried why Cllr Williams and Cllr Hubbard, who are both town council representatives on the partnership forum, did not declare an interest in the agenda item.

Cllr Williams and Cllr Hubbard both stated they were not aware they were still on the forum.

Councillors agreed to defer the recommendations from the review panel pending a further meeting between the Alsager Partnership and town council to iron out any issues. The proposal received eight votes in favour and six against.

The partnership's funding for the remainder of the financial year will now be discussed at a town council meeting on 15 December.

Cllr Rod Fletcher, chair of Alsager Town Council, said: "In the meantime we hope town councillors can meet and try come to some sort of clarification and then we can discuss this again on 15 December possibly with less provocative language."

Cllrs Helliwell and Dale sent their apologies in advance ahead of the proposed with Alsager Partnership representatives.

The partnership's annual funding request for financial year 2021-22 will be discussed at tonight's (Tuesday, 1 December) Finance, Policy and Governance Committee.

The panel's recommendation that the partnership review panel ceases with immediate effect will have to be passed by Alsager Town Council on 15 December.