Underfire for Facebook comments – but Chatteris councillor Ken Perrin had already resigned

A developer is threatening legal action against a town councillor over comments made in posts on the social media platform Facebook.

Lee Bevens attended Chatteris Town Council last night to raise his concerns about Cllr Ken Perrin and remarks made in respect of developments that architect Mr Bevens has planned in the town.

Mr Bevens, speaking at the open public forum part of the meeting, told councillors that he was fed up with the accusations.

He said he had never been accused of lying before, but said that was exactly what Cllr Perrin had done on Facebook.

Mr Bevens said Mr Perrin had also accused him of misleading the council when he made a presentation at a meeting in the summer – again the comment was made on Facebook.

He said Cllr Perrin was already pre-determined when it came to planning applications and said he did not want him voting on any of his plans in the future.

Mr Bevens was accompanied by Simon Howard, of Howard Renovations, who had also said he was a victim of Cllr Perrin’s Facebook posts.

Both men questioned what they could do about the situation, with mayor Cllr Anne Hay suggesting they take the matter to the monitoring officer at Fenland District Council who was responsible for ensuring councillors follow the code of conduct.

She said: “I want to make it clear that the views expressed by Ken Perrin are not the views of this council. We have spoken to him about his posts on social media, but he does not listen.”

Fenland District Councillor Charlie Marks, who represents Chatteris, and was at the meeting, also raised concerns about Cllr Perrin’s behaviour and said he had read posts about the town council “bullying him”.

Cllr Marks said Cllr Perrin had a “blatant disregard” for how he should conduct himself and suggested that the monitoring officer might be the way forward.

Town councillor Alan Gowler said he had tried hard to work with Cllr Perrin but he had not been interested.

Cllr Gower also said Cllr Perrin had posted on Facebook claiming that the town council had banned him from being on the council’s planning committee, but he said that is simply not true.

Cllr Gowler said it had simply been suggested that because he was so obviously pre-determined on all applications he should not vote because it would be breaching code of conduct rules.

However, Cllr Hay said that Cllr Perrin was able to vote on planning applications at full council meetings and that he had never been prevented from doing so.

Mr Bevens and Mr Howard said they had come to the meeting for advice and they would be taking the matter to the monitoring officer as suggested.

Mr Bevens said: “We wanted to do it the right way.”

But while the debate was raging in the council chamber in Church Lane, Cllr Perrin was not at the meeting, but was instead busy resigning as both a town councillor and as a member of the British Democrats Party.

He posted to Facebook to say: “Nothing to do with anything else other than my party being reluctant to shake off their associations from the past. I have never been linked to or a member of any repugnant and vile organisation, but certain party members would not let them go.

“I was getting the backlash. I believe in contesting through the ballot box and it is enough fighting the opposition - let alone fighting the past members' associations.

“It has been a great privilege in serving and knowing you and would like to take this opportunity in thanking you for your support and - to some of you, your opposition. I wish you all the best. Ken.”

He also sent a brief email to town clerk Mrs Melton to say he had resigned “as of now”.