Letter to the Editor: If democracy is to survive, it has to be underpinned with truth and evidence. 

I was, therefore, pleased that last week, Cllr Julia Gooch, Chair of the District Council, acknowledged that these qualities have always been with me during my 53 years as a councillor. 

This is in spite of the ongoing complaints from some councillors who habitually make outrageous claims about me at the drop of a hat.

In his letter to the press last week, Cllr Bernie O’Neill said that he’d never filed a complaint against me. However, I have in the past had my name dragged through the mud following his preposterous and unfounded claims regarding the handling of newts.

Fortunately, another councillor had witnessed and spoke the truth during separate police interviews and  I received full justice when the police found in my favour, and my family and I received a full apology from the council’s solicitor and, indeed, from the newspaper that had printed the accusations. 

There was also the case when Cllr O’Neill claimed I had made rude gestures during a council meeting! 

Again, this was proved to be totally untrue. I also recall the time when Cllr O’Neill left the Labour Party and Alliance Party for the Progressive Independents, and recently wrote that he would not use the standards complaints procedures as they were “toothless”. Yet he has lodged another complaint – this time in his capacity as Cabinet member to the Monitoring Officer. 

On a different note, Cllr Thom Forester (my grandson) and I have been doing the work to reduce costs over the past two years while arranging and fund the restoration the Borden Well, which hundreds of people regard as their primary source of drinking water. 

Despite it being in Cllr O’Neill’s Littledean ward, at no time has he ever expressed a word of support or interest in this project. 

Andrew Gardiner, Ruardean