This post was originally published on this site.
A meeting held to discuss the postponing of local elections was held up for 30 minutes after a councillor called a member of the public a Nazi and police were called.
About 50 protesters turned up to the extraordinary meeting at Redditch Borough Council. Labour councillor Ian Woodhall became involved in a row with a member of the public and both left the meeting early after tempers frayed and the epithet was used.
Police were called but said no criminal offence had been committed.
Woodhall has since issued an apology, saying “my reaction was an error of judgement and fell short of the standards expected of me as a councillor.”
He added: “I am sorry to the individual concerned and to everyone present. “
The Labour-run district council in Worcestershire voted to postpone the elections with the party saying it recognised the depth of feeling.
The council is due to be dissolved and replaced with a unitary authority.
Under government reorganisation plans every district council in Worcestershire will be dissolved and replaced by either one unitary authority for the county, or two.
Redditch was the only council in Worcestershire due to hold elections in May, with nine of the authority’s 27 seats up for grabs.
The move will save taxpayers £192,000, the leadership said and added it will now formally write to central government to make the request.
It comes after ministers offered local authorities the opportunity to delay elections in order to support the timetable for local government reorganisation.
During the meeting councillors were repeatedly heckled, with cries of “shame on you” and “this is no democracy” as the vote went through.
Conservatives at the meeting opposed the motion.
“We should not be the council who paused democracy,” Tory group leader Matt Dormer said.
Given the scale of local government reorganisation the council said it would be better off keeping existing councillors in place without the “distraction” of elections.
Council leader Sharon Harvey said: “I cannot support a position where Redditch Borough Council is compromised on its journey towards a unitary council.
“We completely recognise the depth of feeling, this has not been easy – there’ll be a massive display of democracy when we move to a unitary authority.”
West Mercia Police said it had received a report of a disturbance at Oakenshaw Community Centre in Redditch on Tuesday evening.
“Officers attended and it was established that no criminal offences had been committed,” a spokesperson said.
The government said in December any councils looking to delay elections, must request to do so by 15 January.
The One Worcestershire model of local government reorganisation is backed by Worcestershire County Council and Wyre Forest District Council, while district authorities in Redditch, Bromsgrove, Worcester, Malvern and Wychavon favour splitting the county in two.
