Lymington and Pennington Town Cllr Anna Rostand was cleared of misconduct

Cllr Anna Rostand was reported to civic chiefs over remarks she made at a meeting of Lymington and Pennington Town Council following the resignation of the town clerk, Steve Cridland.

She accused Mike Woodford, of Gilbert Close, Lymington, of contributing to Mr Cridland’s decision to quit the authority.

It follows a series of incidents in which Mr Woodford and other members of the public have clashed with senior councillors and council officers.

The Daily Echo has obtained a transcript of Cllr Rostand’s speech, in which she claimed that Mr Cridland had been the victim of harassment.

She said: “Mr Woodford hasn’t made his life any easier with all his ranting and raving and has written him endless letters. It’s tantamount to harassment and the people of Lymington need to know.”

Mr Woodland contacted the monitoring team at New Forest District Council and made a complaint against Cllr Rostand – a former mayor of Lymington.

He cited the town clerk’s own insistence that “all correspondence needed to go through him”.

Mr Woodford added: “If the clerk had answered my questions with an answer, not a question, his work would have been less.”

But the district council has decided to take no action against Cllr Rostand.

Steve Cridland

A report published by the monitoring team acknowledges that her comments “could be considered to be insulting or humiliating”.

It also conceded that Mr Woodford was not given the right of reply at the meeting.

But it added: “The team is aware that there is a history of clashes between Mr Woodford and senior members of the town council and that Mr Woodford has in the past not been afraid to make his views known is a very forthright manner.

“In law there is no unfettered right for the public to speak at meetings.”

The report says that Cllr Rostand’s remarks, and Mr Woodford’s inability to respond to them at the meeting, did not amount to an abuse of power.

It adds: “Cllr Rostand has stated that, as a democratically-elected councillor, she was exercising her right to speak in the council chamber on council matters. In the team’s view there was nothing ‘improper’ in her actions.

“The team considers it was perfectly proper for her to bring to the public’s attention a matter directly affecting the operation of the town council.”

It comes just weeks after Mr Woodford’s complaint against another member of the authority was also rejected.

He had accused Cllr Alan Penson, chairman of the policy and resources committee, of pushing and verbally abusing him in the council chamber.