Scarborough: Police called to council meeting over public questions row

North Yorkshire Police said no offences were recorded

Police were called to a council meeting after a disagreement about public participation.

The incident happened at a Newby and Scalby Town Council meeting on 14 February after members of the public felt they could not participate in an "open forum".

Residents at the meeting then "refused to budge" after being unable to ask questions about cuts to local services.

North Yorkshire Police said "no offences" were recorded.

Subash Sharma, who represents Newby on North Yorkshire Council (NYC), said people had become angry that the council "decided to remove the open forum where ordinary individuals could make their opinions known and ask questions".

"What we're concerned about is that facilities such as bereavement, dementia, menopause and so many other services have been withdrawn," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He later raised the issue at a full meeting of North Yorkshire Council on Wednesday, stating the town council had "spiralled into chaos and self-destruction".

'Keep quiet'

Also at last week's meeting was Reg Towse, a former chair of the town council, who said he and other residents had wanted to ask questions "about the loss of local facilities".

The chair of NYC Carl Les said he believed the authority's "monitoring officer" was investigating certain incidents regarding the town council, but did not refer to any specific events.

Describing events at the town council meeting, Mr Sharma said he had "started a group within it to talk about what was happening and I was told to keep quiet".

"I told them that they could abandon or discontinue the meeting, defer it to another day, or call the police, and I was chucked out because we weren't going to leave and we were not going to be quiet," he said.

"[The councillors] left the room and phoned the police from the offices. All we were asking for was some 15 minutes of an open forum so we could ask questions."

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: "On arrival, an officer spoke to members of the public and council members to try to resolve the incident.

"A short time later, members of the public left the building. No offences were recorded and the issues remain a matter for the council."