MALVERN'S annual town meeting ended in uproar on Wednesday (May 9).

Howls of outrage erupted from members of the public after town mayor David Williams dismissed veteran former councillor Pat Merrick as a member of the "wrong generation".

Despite cries of "Withdraw! Withdraw!" from the floor, Coun Williams said he stood by his remarks.

The exchange came after Mrs Merrick asked the meeting about the cost of town council solicitors and the response to its Best Value brochures.

Coun Williams told the meeting that Sunderland-based solicitors Hodgson Maggiore, who were called in over February's public meeting to discuss the council's future, charged £100 an hour, but he did not disclose the full bill. He said 429 of the Best Value questionnaires had been returned.

Coun Williams closed the meeting early after Coun Pat Mewton, reading a prepared statement in support of the town council, was shouted down.

About 60 people turned up for the meeting at Holy Trinity Church hall but the public question session was cut short by the mayor's decision.

Earlier, they heard a presentation by consultants KPMG, who had been commissioned at a cost of £11,000 to investigate the town council's problems.

KPMG were tasked to look into the town council's activities from 1996 to 2000.

Deborah de Haes, of KPMG, told the meeting the council started out with a lack of financial systems and expertise.

She said: "By May 2000, things had improved slightly but not a lot."

But despite the criticisms, members of the public at the meeting were not happy with the report

Several voices from the floor denounced it as a "whitewash" and former district council leader John Ford called it a "very one-sided story".

Former mayor Adrian Ward said after the meeting that the council had shot itself in the foot with the report.

He said: "It clearly indicates the financial management is failing."