Councillor resigns and attacks Horncastle town council

Beleaguered Horncastle Town Council has been hit by another resignation.
Phil CantwellPhil Cantwell
Phil Cantwell

Phil Cantwell confirmed he had quit and launched a stinging attack on the town council and how it had handled a number of situations.

Mr Cantwell, who owns a leading Horncastle restaurant, admitted one of those was the row surrounding ex-mayor Bill Aron’s 
expenses.

In his resignation email, Mr Cantwell says he was ‘disgusted’ at the treatment of another ex-councillor, Jonathan Ferrari, who quit earlier this year in the row over Coun Aron’s expenses.

Mr Cantwell stated he had given ‘a lot of thought’ to his resignation. However, he came to the decision for a number of reasons.

He said this also included being told he had just two minutes to speak on a topic.

“I found that as an insult as we are there to address issues and are not more concerned about going home!” hewrote.

“I also am disgusted by the way Jonathan was treated.

He added: “I was expecting to be part of a group of forward thinking people that wanted to see Horncastle be a town we all should feel proud of.”

Mr Cantwell concludes his email by asking the council to take him off its Facebook page as an administrator – and any other associated social media pages.

He also requests his profile be deleted from the town council’s website.

His resignation comes at a difficult time for the town council.

Only two members of the public turned up at the annual town meeting two weeks ago and heard chairman Brian Burbidge make a desperate plea for unity and for bickering among councillors to stop.

Asked about Mr Cantwell’s resignation and comments, town clerk Amanda Bushell said: “The only comment is that we are disappointed to lose another councillor.”

Earlier this year at a council meeting, Mr Ferrari accused then-mayor Coun Aron of claiming expenses that were ‘not in the spirit of the position’.

Coun Aron denied any wrong-doing – and has since published his expenses. He was reported to monitoring officers at ELDC and Lincolnshire County Council who have not taken any action after finding no wrong-doing.