Row erupts at East Carleton and Ketteringham Parish Council

But this seemingly simple task has led to an extraordinary falling-out at the authority which covers the two tiny Norfolk villages of East Carleton and Ketteringham.

Councillors for the slightly larger of the two, East Carleton, have been accused of snaffling the bench for themselves, sparking wider claims of bias and partisan behaviour against their smaller neighbour.

The sectarian row - which has flared up at recent meetings - has led to a deep divide between the two sides, with one Ketteringham councillor, Angela Jordan, accusing her East Carleton colleagues of treating her village as their "poor relation" and ensuring their own receives preferential treatment when it comes to funds and resources.

The dispute has prompted calls for the creation of more councillors for Ketteringham, to create a balance to the larger East Carleton bloc.

The parish council's acting chairman accepted there were long-standing concerns in the villages about the proportion of councillors each one had, but has appealed for unity and said members should seek to "represent all residents and not just one faction".

Angela Jordan, Ketteringham councillor (Image: Angela Jordan)

A TALE OF TWO VILLAGES

The two villages are located around two miles apart, just south of Norwich.

East Carleton is the larger of the two, with a population of around 300, with 200 in Ketteringham.

This is reflected in the make-up of their joint parish council, with the former having four councillors and the latter three.

Ketteringham is represented by Angela Jordan and Ingrid Fairman, as well as chairman Sandy Rowell - who is currently out of the country with the armed forces - while East Carleton is represented by Nigel Legg, Syd Huggins, Tom Spicer and Sam Mealing-Mills.

The village of East Carleton (Image: Sonya Duncan)

'SECTARIAN DIVIDE'

Mrs Jordan has accused her East Carleton counterparts of prioritising their own parish when voting and "shooting down" proposals that relate to Ketteringham.

She added: "It seems unfair that every proposal is going to go in their favour because there are more of them than us.

"We are a joint parish council and should be working closer together but it always seems that things go their way."

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Ketteringham village sign (Image: Sonya Duncan)

BATTLE FOR THE BENCH

Matters came to a head in March when councillors debated where to place the new bench.

While the Ketteringham councillors had hoped it would replace an old one in their own village, at the junction of Church Road and High Ash Road, they were told this one would "clean up fine" and could be repaired.

Ms Fairman was the only Ketteringham councillor present at the meeting and suggested that the decision be deferred to explore other options.

But the East Carleton councillors out-voted her and their proposal to install the bench in Rectory Road, in their village, was carried.

The new bench in East Carleton (Image: Sonya Duncan)

Discussions then became increasingly heated at the following meeting in April, at which Mrs Jordan, 70, argued that the council should have to pay to replace the old bench in Ketteringham and accused East Carleton councillors of blocking improvements in her village.

After the meeting, she said: "The new bench had been eyeballed by East Carleton and they only got the vote because they had more members. I felt a little bit disgusted that this was never discussed."

The debate at the April meeting quickly became "very personal" and Mrs Jordan left it in tears.

She later said: "Parish council matters tend to be quite trivial but things have got really nasty. The way I was spoken to was vile. I was shouted at and talked down to.

"They basically verbally assaulted me. I felt bullied on that night."

The old bench in Ketteringham, which Mrs Jordan believes dates back to the 1970s (Image: Sonya Duncan)

'A STRANGE ATMOSPHERE'

Tom Spicer, one of the East Carleton councillors, said he "reprimanded" Mrs Jordan at the meeting, because he felt she was creating conflict for no good reason. 

He said: "They accused us of stealing a bench but the Ketteringham one was reparable. This was voted for by a slim majority because half of the councillors didn't attend the meeting.

"I reprimanded Mrs Jordan because I think she ought to know better but as far as I'm aware it's done and dusted.

"This is an ongoing problem and you have to walk a fine line to not upset somebody. But we did nothing untoward and it was Mrs Jordan creating the conflict."

He conceded that the council would ideally have an equal number of members representing each parish and that this imbalance had led to a "strange atmosphere" in recent months.

The new bench in East Carleton (Image: Sonya Duncan)

The old bench in Ketteringham (Image: Sonya Duncan)

WHAT NOW? 

Mrs Jordan said she brought up the matter of conduct at the most recent meeting of the authority in June and specifically addressed Mr Spicer and his East Carleton colleague, Mr Huggins.

She said: "They did not understand how humiliated they made me feel on that night.

"They say it's been put to bed but I think they still don't get it and this could happen again."

However, after 22 years, she says she has no intention of leaving the council. 

"I'm pretty tough," she added.

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East Carleton (Image: Sonya Duncan)

CALL FOR UNITY

Nigel Legg, acting chairman of the council, said he hoped to see "more unity" in the future. 

He said: "There has been a fairly long-standing concern about the number of councillors but my take is that we should be looking to represent all residents and not just one faction.

"I hope that we can get over this issue and work together to better the situation. I want to develop a parish council that can work for all residents - we have done this in the past."