image credit: Westham Pond Working Group:
Celebration, revitalisation of historic horse pond
15 October 2019
In a public statement offered to The Pevensey Bay Journal (18 February), new chairman of Westham Parish Council, Mike Haffner, tells the story of parish clerk Alison Stevens, who locked the office and left the key. He looks at the mess inherited and gradually, over the months, the progress made. “My biggest personal concern”, he writes, “in this whole matter, which was hidden in plain sight, is that the behind the scenes manoeuvring may possibly result in the same clerk and little group of councillors being re-installed”.
Since the Parish Election in May 2019 the councillors of Westham Parish Council have maintained a dignified silence about the situation which we inherited. In view of recent events however, that has changed.
In April 2019 the Westham Parish Council Meeting, which is usually held on the third Monday of the month, was held on the first Monday of the month. It was at this meeting that Alison Stevens, the Parish Clerk, gave one months notice. No effort appears to have been made to start the search for a replacement.
Shortly before the Parish election on May 2nd the chairman Keith Stevens, a Stone Cross candidate and husband of the clerk, also resigned.
By Monday 6th May the election results were confirmed.
One Westham councillor was re-elected alongside four new Westham councillors, and the two remaining Stone Cross candidates automatically qualified as councillors as they were unopposed.
Attempts at this time to contact both the Parish Clerk and the two Stone Cross Councillors were unsuccessful.
On Wednesday 8th May Alison Stevens, locked the parish office, left the keys and a two page “Handover List” in Stone Cross School and left.
At this stage five Westham Councillors had been elected, but could not take their places officially as there was no Parish Clerk or chairman to accept their Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
By 16th May one councillor had eventually managed to get himself authorised by Wealden and was able to authorise the other Westham Councillors.
On 20th May we held the AGM preceded by the Village Meeting. The latter had not been organised so I had to troll through all the minutes from the last year’s meetings to cobble together the customary annual report.
At this point we were reduced to the five Westham councillors as one Stone Cross councillor had eventually resigned and the other had forfeited his place by not turning up. Had the chairman not resigned he would have been obliged to open the AGM, and if voted out of that position, hand over to any newly elected chairman. Also as we had no parish clerk we had to stumble through the procedure as best we could.
Gradually over the months we have progressed.
By September, three part-time locum clerks later, we were fortunate to find and employ the able and determined Mrs Susan Sanders as our Parish Clerk, and she has helped us rectify the finances and the shortage of information and records.
Even the act of setting up her contract of employment was not straight forward as four of the necessary policies were not in place and had to be installed prior to her appointment. Suffice it to say that the previous administration of Westham Parish, held up as an example to others, could not even keep up-to-date allotment holder’s records, and we have had to seek dispensation from our auditors due to lack of detail of financial records..
Now in February, we have a full complement of councillors.
It would have been easier at the start in May to co-op the whole council from Westham residents, but we were determined that Stone Cross should be properly represented and we now have six Stone Cross residents on board. I am pleased to report that there is now a team in place that has the determination and ability to improve this parish, and not just seek reasons for inactivity.
It is therefore more than irritating to find that while we were sorting out the mess that we had inherited, person or persons unknown had managed to obtain over four hundred signatures to a petition to form a separate Stone Cross Parish Council. Somehow this was done without the knowledge of councillors, and without reference to the Parish Council.
This was submitted to Wealden District Council in October, again without our knowledge…
Unfortunately Wealden Council officers consider that is perfectly in order, without consulting or informing the legal representatives of this parish, not only to go ahead with conducting a report, but also recommend acceptance of carrying the issue forward and putting aside up to £5000 for an external consultant. This was recommended “due to the current workload of the Electoral Services Team.”
These recommendations were approved at a meeting of the Wealden Audit, Finance and Governance Committee on the 20th of January but this was only brought to light a few days ago following a general enquiry to a Wealden councillor
The tone of the report seems to suggest pushing the process forward as quickly as possible, despite the fact that there is a scheduled local election in just over three years time.
There is a legal requirement for the Community Governance Review to take place within 12 months of the terms of reference being published, but there is no requirement for these terms to be published as a matter of urgency, and hence no need to outsource this function.
Perhaps it should also be pointed out, that while the recommendations of Wealden District officers may have already cost this district £5,000, that the cost of an election, the next possible step, is of the order of a further £10,000 to £12,000. This is at a time when Wealden is still making cuts.
There is also the cost of having two separate parish councils when one will suffice at a time when other councils are combining to reduce overheads. Our overheads have already been reduced as our present Parish Clerk finds she requires only 24 hours per week, whilst the previous clerk was charging for 35 hours.
On Thursday night I wrote a strong worded e-mail to Trevor Scott, Wealden’s Chief Executive, asking him why the local Parish Council should be completely ignored and kept in the dark, when progressing this report might mean splitting this parish in 2021. Without the certainty of our tenure until at least the next election in 2023 we are unable to plan forward and put into effect many of the improvements that are already being investigated.
Whilst we are aware that Alison and Keith Stevens received considerable personal abuse in late 2018, this was from only a few Westham residents, and by leaving in the way that they did, they have, in my personal opinion, acted in a most irresponsible manner and abandoned all the other residents of this parish
Also in my opinion this is particularly inexcusable as Keith Stevens is the chairman of both the Wealden District Association of Local Councils, (where his wife is the secretary) and the East Sussex Association of Local Councils Ltd, vice chairman and director of Surrey and Sussex Association of Local Councils Ltd, and along with his wife, are two of the voting members that represent this county on the National Association of Local Councils.
My biggest personal concern in this whole matter, which was hidden in plain sight, is that the behind-the -scenes manoeuvring may possibly result in the same clerk and little group of councillors being re-installed, and that if a confrontational situation should arise in Stone Cross they would once again bail out, once again leave the parish in the lurch, and once again rely on someone else to put things straight.
Mike Haffner Chairman of Westham Parish Council.
Note: Prior to the resignation of Alison Stevens, clerk to Westham Parish Council, the Pevensey Bay Journal contacted her in relation to an investigative story that was in preparation for publication, that we considered to be in the public interest. She was given the opportunity to read what was to be published to comment and offer her point of view, She chose not to see the article or offer any view. The story investigated proceedings in relation to the village pond, her understanding of her role as a parish clerk, minute taking and income from her five roles linked to being a parish clerk, together with the role played by her husband, Keith Stevens, in the proceedings of Westham Parish Council.
The story was titled Alison Stevens, Hidden in plain sight, the story of the parish clerk and the public purse
In relation to the proceedings of Westham Parish Council at the time, we published the lead story (1 October 2018) :Westham Parish Council, Dead in the Water: Send in the Clowns, there have to be Clowns. The story was published in the Pevensey Bay Journal in print, and can be read online here
