In response to Cllr Mandy Carpenters letter last week, I think she is totally missing the whole crux of David Hoggard’s letter the previous week. As I understood the letter, it was not about the rights and wrongs of the 20’s Plenty campaign. It was about whether the Mayor of Malton Town Council should promote a personal campaign under the apparent aegis of his position as councillor or Mayor, and I share his concerns.

I’m particularly concerned that the mayor could put his own agenda item forward again and then have a casting vote. The question is whether it should be allowed in practice. Just because you can do something does not necessarily make it right and in most reputable public organisations it is not allowed.

Senior officers from North Yorkshire Council last year gave advice that quite clearly said you should not use your position on the council to push your own personal agendas - advice that Cllr Conlan appears to have chosen to disregard.

A number of residents who had read the minutes of the November meeting spoke to me and voiced their concerns. Whether they agreed with 20’s Plenty campaign or not (I personally have supported it in appropriate areas), the issue was that they were unhappy that the Mayor had yet again pushed his own personal campaign and voted on it, and in the words of more than one resident ‘it stinks!’.

I brought the residents’ concerns to the December meeting, but I was quite categorically told by both the Mayor, Ian Conlan, and the Deputy, Lindsay Burr, that they would not answer my question, and I would have to submit it in writing for the January meeting - which I subsequently did. The question was: “ … should the chair or indeed any councillor be allowed to put forward their own personal campaigns as an agenda item, then be able to vote on it and in particular be able to use their position to give the casting vote?”

However, before the meeting Cllr Paul Andrews said my question was outrageous and that we should not be wasting time discussing it, and the mayor yet again refused to discuss or answer this simple question. I was told very curtly to keep it brief when I insisted on making a statement on behalf of those residents with no discussion allowed afterwards. (Cllr Carpenter was absent from this meeting.) I suggest what the residents of Malton should find truly outrageous, is the fact that we have some councillors who are arrogant enough to think they can push their own personal agendas all the time, but are unwilling to discuss the legitimate procedural concerns that have been raised by the people that they have been elected to represent.

Cllr Kerry Ennis Malton