A Ripon councillor who prepared a resignation letter — then decided to stay with the council and switch allegiances to a different political group — could have to resign after all.
The twist in the struggle for control of Ripon City Council comes after police said there was no evidence to support an allegation of fraud made by Councillor Sid Hawke.
Cllr Hawke reported Ripon Mayor Barbara Brodigan over her handling of his resignation letter, which it is understood the pair wrote together.
The following day, Cllr Hawke joined a group of councillors led by former council leader, Councillor Andrew Williams, which is looking to regain control of the city council from a group led by Cllr Brodigan.
Cllr Hawke claimed Cllr Brodigan had committed fraud by taking the letter to the city council, but North Yorkshire Police said its economic crime unit had found there was no evidence of a criminal offence.
In the latest update, legal advice received from the Yorkshire Local Councils Associations has indicated that the resignation letter should now stand and Cllr Hawke should resign.
This recommendation would need to be ratified by the city council.
Cllr Brodigan said she had shown the resignation letter to the council clerk for advice and had not submitted it, as had been claimed.
The mayor said she had been vindicated by the police decision not to take the allegation further.
The councillor said the allegation was part of a campaign to discredit her, adding:
“Simply by reporting me to the police, it discredited me in the public eye, and it has done there’s no doubt about it because people have questioned me about it.
“I don’t normally go on Facebook, but I know there’s been a lot of comments there on about it.
“It’s been headlined twice now in the paper that I’m accused of fraud. On a professional, personal and political level, that’s extremely damaging.”
A parish meeting was held on Monday at the request of local residents, who want to conduct a parish poll as a way of assessing whether the community has confidence in Cllr Brodigan.
A vote was taken on the night with the majority of audience members saying they did have confidence in the mayor, but as ten local residents asked for a poll, this could still take place.
It is understood a final decision could rest with North Yorkshire Council’s monitoring officer on whether the poll, which would have no legal power, will go ahead.
Cllr Hawke has not responded to requests from the Local Democracy Reporting Service to comment.
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