A BUSINESS meeting in Dartmouth ended in turmoil after people walked out amid claims by the former chairman of the Chamber of Trade Joe Murtagh that the town had ‘gone to hell in a handbasket’.

Former mayor and town councillor Richard Rendle said what is happening to Dartmouth is ‘heart-breaking’. Taking sides was a ‘Dartmouth disease’ that was dividing the town, he added.

The uproar came in the closing minutes of a ­meeting of the Dartmouth Business Forum called by chairman Paul Reach.

Now business owner and former Dartmouth town councillor Dave Cawley has called on Mr Reach to stand down after being told he was not acceptable as a forum member.

Mr Cawley, who is also a former chairman of what was the town’s Chamber of Trade, believes his application for membership was turned down because

he does not support the Dartmouth Business Improvement District.

But Mr Reach, who set up the BID, insists that is not the case and that Mr Cawley’s proposal was objected to by two forum directors due to a dispute over an old website.

‘You have a reputation,’ he told Mr Cawley. ‘It was nothing to do with your opinions.’

When Mr Cawley asked why his money had not been returned, Mr Reach got out his wallet and said: ‘If you’re that hard up for £36, you can have it now.’

The next day he sent Mr Cawley a personal cheque for the amount, saying there had been a delay in issuing the refund because he could not immediately access the PayPal account.

Mr Cawley told the meeting in the Clifton Room of the Guildhall that he had been in the process of paying his forum membership online when he received an email from Mr Reach asking if his views on the BID had changed. He later heard his request to join the forum had been refused.

‘You’ve stopped me from joining,’ said Mr Cawley. ‘Are you going to bar everyone that has an opposite view to you?’

But Mr Reach said he was ‘just curious’ about Mr Cawley’s views on the BID and the membership decision had been made by two members of the forum management committee.

‘Directors have the right to refuse entry,’ he said.

Mr Murtagh said the forum was appealing for members but was obviously not ‘open to all’ and that there were too many personality clashes in the town.

‘We already have a BID chairman who’s made an attempt to challenge the democratic process in the town, and that’s unacceptable to me,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately the town and its businesses will suffer. We have to rethink how we’re running this town because everything is going to hell in a handbasket.’

Cllr Rendle, who has been involved in Dart-mouth’s community life for more than 30 years, said: ‘I’m broken-hearted to see how the town’s going and the way we’re stabbing each other in the back. We’re ­losing the soul of the town.’

Earlier, Cllr Rendle had said Dartmouth was a vibrant town that was ‘special and different’, adding: ‘We need to look after that.

He said he was disturbed to hear that the BID wanted to put advertising banners on lamp posts like a pseudo ‘Welcome to Frinton-on-Sea’.

‘I don’t believe that’s what Dartmouth is all about,’ he said. ‘We need to look at the core of what we’re trying to market and understand what we’re ­trying to achieve. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be changes, but we have to hang on to quality.’

Mr Cawley claimed that the forum’s decision was contrary to advice from

the British Chamber of Commerce, saying: ‘If the business forum can’t look after its own bank account, how do they think they can advise other businesses?

‘This is an appalling state of affairs and I call on Paul Reach to immediately stand down as chairman. I also call on directors of the business forum who are directors of the BID to resign. This conflict of interest isn’t healthy and is bad for the town.’

But Mr Reach said that directors of the business forum were allowed to refuse membership entry and did not have to give reasons.

‘The forum has its own set of rules that were established when Mr Cawley was involved as chairman,’ he said, making clear that directors of the business forum are not BID directors, only associate members.

Mr Cawley’s membership was rejected by two of the three forum directors, who are former chairman Peter Bailey, solicitor Owen Hill and accountant Michael Ghersie. Mr Reach was not a director with a vote when the decision was taken.