Maldon council meeting abandoned again due to disruption

A council that called police to one of its meetings last month has had to abandon another one amid claims of one councillor's "disorderly conduct".

Security was called to Maldon District Council in Essex when independent councillor Chrisy Morris started to make claims against the authority.

The council chairman said the meeting would end if Mr Morris did not leave the chamber.

The same councillor was accused of disrupting a meeting in November.

At the council's meeting on 4 November, sanctions against Mr Morris, who denied disclosing confidential information, were being discussed after the authority's joint standards committee found he had brought the authority into disrepute, following two independent investigations.

After Mr Morris repeatedly called for a "point of order", police were called.

The meeting was abandoned and police officers said he was "breaching the peace", but no arrests were made.

At the latest full council meeting on Thursday, councillors had been declaring financial interests when Mr Morris said he had been "let down badly by this council" and made allegations of cover-ups.

The council chairman, independent member Mark Heard, asked him to get "to the point", and Mr Morris continued.

After a few minutes, councillors voted to remove him from the meeting.

As they adjourned, Mr Heard was heard to "ask for security" with Mr Morris responding that "this will be funny".

Security could not be seen on the video stream of the meeting as it was paused during the adjournment.

When councillors returned after 20 minutes, the chairman said: "Councillor Morris has been requested to obey the resolution of council and leave the chamber because of disorderly conduct.

"If he does not, the meeting will be closed and [he] will have prevented this council from transacting business."

Mr Morris did not leave and the meeting was terminated.

On the streamed footage of the full council meeting on YouTube, a logo can be seen stating "#ENOUGHISENOUGH".

This refers to a council campaign that has been running in "response to ongoing attacks on staff and key workers", the authority said.

In a press release in November, Richard Holmes, head of paid service at the council, said the campaign was started because "staff at the council in recent weeks and months have been subjected to threats of physical violence, they have been intimidated and experienced harassment and aggressive verbal abuse, in person and online".

No single party or group has a majority at the council, but it is run by the independent group, led by Richard Siddall. Mr Morris is not aligned with this group.

Mr Heard, the council chairman, said Mr Morris had made "false and damaging accusations against the council and staff.

"I I had no choice but to close the meeting," he said.

He added: "Future meeting arrangements will be considered, but in the meantime the council's constitution allows for delegated decisions to be made where necessary, to ensure the business of the council can be undertaken."

The BBC has approached Mr Morris for comment.

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