KINGSWEAR Parish Council is in disarray amid claims of no confidence in councillors and a leadership battle still to settle.

Long-standing chairman Jonathan Hawkins believes the entire ‘unelected’ council should stand down and the community be given the chance to choose a new parish council.

Meanwhile, more than 30 residents have signed a petition calling for a parish poll to be held on the suitability of three councillors – Jan Henshall, Liz Essex and Lucy Payne.

It claims the three have failed to faithfully represent the views of the people of Kingswear and that they are doing it for their own self-interest.

The document also claims the trio lack ‘selflessness, objectivity and accountability’ and they should be prevented from voting on any future issue until a parish poll is conducted over the three council seats. Failure to do so could leave the council open to maladministration, it says.

But the legality of the document is being disputed by the three councillors who have taken advice from the Devon Association of Local Councils.

The petition was presented to Tuesday’s meeting of the council, which saw vice-chairman Mike Trevorrow take the chair.

Uncertainty has arisen over the leadership of the council after Cllr Hawkins expressed his intention to stand down this autumn but later withdrew his resignation.

Cllr Hawkins said: ‘In my view, I am still chairman as I did not put my resignation in writing. I understand there was due to be a vote of no confidence in me proposed by Cllr Payne and seconded by Cllr Henshall. So the parish council is going to vote for a new chairman, and I intend to stand again.

‘I know I have not got the majority support of parish councillors but feel I have got the full support of the community and parishioners.’

He pointed out that because there had not been an election in Kingswear in May none of the present parish councillors had been elected. He said:?‘These people are unelected and I ask them all to stand down and let the community decide if it has confidence in their views.’

Cllr Henshall, who automatically regained her seat on the council this year when there were not enough candidates to force an election, said she had always tried to represent the views of the community.

She said the request for a parish poll signed by 33 parishoners had accused her and Cllr Essex and Cllr Payne – both co-opted members – of ‘self-interest’ and requested they no longer take part in any voting until a parish poll for their seats was carried out.

Cllr Henshall claimed she had not been given proper opportunity to ‘make her case’ at Tues­day’s meeting and had been ‘gagged’.

She added:?‘I have been accused of failing to represent the people properly. That is just not true. In dealings over the proposed playground and its position in relation to the public footpath in the village I have stood up and spoken out on behalf of those people.

‘It is completely undemocratic when 33 people can publicly malign you without warning and you are unable to defend yourself.’

Cllr Henshall claimed Cllr Hawkins had misled the council into believing he would be resigning along with the parish clerk Emma Illingworth, who has stepped down, and councillors had bought leaving presents for them both.

‘I do not believe Cllr Hawkins should be allowed to withdraw his resignation,’ she said. ‘His position has become untenable.’

Cllr Payne and Cllr Essex said afterwards in a joint statement: ‘We had come to the meeting expecting to vote on a motion about whether to accept Cllr Hawkins’ withdrawal of his resignation as chairman under agenda item three.

‘In the meeting, a whole series of events accumulated to deprive us of this vote and prevented us from discussing the issue.’

They added: ‘It was disappointing we were not given the opportunity to speak, given its importance, so we felt very aggrieved and felt as if we had been gagged.

‘We sought advice from the Devon Association of Local Councils and were told that a petition cannot deprive a councillor of voting and so we feel shocked.’