Hucknall councillor claims he's been 'gagged' as motion calling for Tom Hollis to resign is rejected

Coun Hollis has been handed a 12-month community order with 200 hours unpaid work after being being convicted of harassment without violence and careless driving in two separate trials last month.

He was subsequently sacked as Ashfield District Council deputy leader, but kept his post as cabinet member for housing and said he would not be resigning.

In the wake of this, Coun Chris Baron (Con), who represents Hucknall West, submitted a motion for the full council meeting on December 1, calling for Coun Hollis to removed as a member of authority.

The motion was seconded by Coun Lauren Mitchell (Lab), who represents Hucknall South.

But now, Coun Baron says he has been told by the council chief executive and monitoring officer that his motion is not a matter for full council, as detailed in the council’s constitution, and will instead be discussed by the standards and personnel committee.

And he claims that will lead to nothing being done as all the members of the committee are Ashfield Independent councillors except for himself.

He said: “I find it absolutely incredible, it’s been rejected and some would say I’ve been gagged.

"When an elected member of the council has brought the council into disrepute, in my opinion, that should be discussed by the council and not just a committee.

"By doing this, it means the Ashfield Independents will basically be judging their own behaviour and I imagine the decision will be the same and it will be taken no further."

Coun Baron added that he felt some in the council were ‘running scared’ of what the potential outcome of a motion such as his going to full council would be and that people were ‘trying to hide behind constitutional law’ as opposed to what residents of Ashfield would expect.

He said: “I’ve had numerous phone calls and emails from residents who said they felt that putting this motion in was the best way forward and they are going to be very disappointed and that’s an understatement.

"When somebody has been found guilty of two offences and still remains an elected member and a senior member of the cabinet, to me that sounds quite bizarre.

"A lot of people were expecting me to put a strong case to the full council on this but now I’ve been gagged, I can’t.

The Ashfield Independents said this was a matter for council officers and not for them.

A council spokesperson said: “As we are currently in a period of purdah ahead of the Hucknall by-election, the council is unable to respond to political issues.”