Gloucestershire parish councillor given three-month village hall ban

A parish councillor has been banned from entering her village hall over a Facebook post made in November.

Cheryl Agg from Woodmancote, Gloucestershire, asked what people thought about using the village hall as a warm space for vulnerable people.

In December, she received a letter from Woodmancote Village Hall committee imposing a three-month minimum ban.

The letter said the idea of using the hall had already been discussed but was found not to be appropriate.

The committee and the parish council have been approached for further comment.

Ms Agg was told in the letter she could still attend parish council meetings because she is a parish councillor, but she is forbidden from attending any other events at the hall, in Bushcombe Lane, or its grounds, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

She said she was shocked to find out she had been the subject of a code of conduct hearing over the Facebook post.

Ms Agg, who is not a committee member, said: "It came as a complete surprise. We are a community, I don't understand how the code of conduct brings people together."

The letter says a number of the committee members asked for her "recent conduct and activities" to be added to the agenda of their meeting on 17 December.

The committee members said they were "shocked" by a Facebook post she made in which she asked what residents thought about the possibility of using the village hall as a warm space for people struggling to heat their homes this winter, as grants for such a scheme were available at Tewkesbury Borough Council.

"This was quite a surprise, indeed a shock, to many of us as none of us were aware of any contact to ascertain whether the premises were indeed a suitable place under this scheme," the letter reads.

The letter also explains that the idea of using the village hall had already been discussed.

"While we fully support the principle of the scheme, Woodmancote Village Hall is most definitely not an appropriate place in any way.

"Our principle issue with this post is that it is likely to potentially cause harm to frail villagers who are in need of support."

The committee, which said it only had one disciplinary measure available to it, which was to impose an "access prohibition", unanimously decided to impose a three-month minimum ban from 1 January, 2023.

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