IF you wish to deflect attention from the matter in hand, shoot the messenger.

This is a lesson well learned by St Briavels' present parish council.

Dave Kent asserts that my letter was written on the information from one person. He is correct, but this one person was the councillor involved so I suggest that he should remember the phrase about the 'horse's mouth' from which one hears the truth.  If I was so wrong in what I wrote, why exacerbate the situation by responding to my letter? 

As I understand it, there are three reasons for not allowing an elected councillor to stand. They are: a councillor's refusal to sign the declaration, his present or imminent bankruptcy and a jail sentence.

Brian Baker does not fit any of these criteria. The government's 'Guide to Parish Councillors' states: 'At, or before, your first meeting you must sign the declaration of acceptance of office. In law, you are not a councillor until you sign.' 'Your' first parish meeting is the crucial phrase, as it can be interpreted as the first meeting you are able to attend (through reasons of health, holiday or incapacity perhaps), not the first meeting that the council holds. Therefore there is absolutely no need for the clerk to quote the law because it is not definitive.

Dave Kent and the council he serves know full well that it was their actions and not my letter that has stirred up a hornets' nest in the parish. It is no wonder that so many parishioners have signed a request for a parish election. For this to happen, however, the existing council would need to resign and that is unlikely.

The only solution is a vote of no confidence in the parish council, so matters really are up to St Briavels residents. If you are content with the current situation, then do nothing.

I wish Dave Kent well in his new appointment to West Dean Parish Council.

– Dr Daphne Pearson, Tinman's Green, Redbrook.