It's MTAG which has been gagged...

As group leader of MTAG councillors, at the council meeting on September 6, I tabled a series of questions to the mayor designed to show the true cost to the town of the retirement package of our past town clerk.

These questions included, cost of pension contribution, ex-gratia payment, overtime payment, lump sum for added years of pension, monthly inflation-proofed pension, payment in lieu of notice, holiday pay and finally consultancy fees for continuing to work for the council on retirement, from which he left to take up employment in local government in Somerset.

This, of course, is in addition to paying for a temporary town clerk replacement.

All these payments can be shown to cost the town more than £400,000 over a 40 year term.

It now appears that, to rub salt into the wounds, we have paid for his legal advisor's fees in assisting him to negotiate the terms of his own retirement with the town council's advisors.

Councillor Victory knows full well that the information contained in the answers to these questions is not sub-judice, as she suggests in her letter, since the enquiry by the district auditor is not a judicial enquiry, is in the public domain and is open to discussion by anyone.

The truth is that Councillor Myatt had a motion passed, opposed by MTAG but supported by Councillor Victory, to prevent any discussion on these matters taking place at the council meeting and my questioning was cut short by this ruse. It was MTAG that was gagged, not the council.

We look forward with interest to the report by the district auditor on the shoddy happenings which surrounded the authorisation of the early retirement and its enormous cost, and give notice that should he find any irregularity in these payments then we shall demand that, at the very least, the members of the sub-committee which made these decisions should resign as councillors.

KEITH PHILLIPS, Group Leader MTAG councillors, Avenue Road, Great Malvern.