THE row between the Newman Collard trustees and Liss Parish Council deepened this week with the news that all three trust officers had resigned. Relations between the two key village groups have been rocky for some time. But the resignations were announced after yet more bickering over the appointment of representatives from Liss parish council to the trust. Two parish council representatives attended a meeting of the trust recently and claimed they were asked to leave. Trust secretary Bill Briggs wrote to parish clerk Dick Bowery last Tuesday and told him that in the light of the latest row trustees had debated whether to abandon the management of the playing fields altogether. "Trustees have seriously considered whether or not the trust should be wound up and the responsibility for running the Newman Collard playing fields and its pavilion becomes that of the parish council," he said. He said an emergency meeting had been called to discuss the issue, but it had been decided that it was "not in the best interests of the village". But in order to make a "fresh attempt to work in closer co-operation with the parish council", he said the three officers of the trust – chairman Ian Halstead, treasurer Pat Smith and Mr Briggs himself – were resigning immediately. He said Newman Collard trustees were disappointed that the parish council had not appointed 'trustees' in accordance with the new constitution. Instead Liss parish council, at its July meeting, appointed three 'representatives' for a period of six months or until they received legal advice from East Hampshire District Council (EHDC). Some members were worried that if they were appointed as 'trustees' they would have to declare prejudicial interests when debating the playing fields at parish council meetings and would lose their right to vote. The July meeting of the parish council elected Brian Mayo, Howard Linsley and Paddy Payne to the trust. But when Mr Mayo and Mr Linsley attended their first Newman Collard Trust meeting they claimed they were "ejected" from the meeting. Mr Briggs told the parish council this week: "You will appreciate that the trust is incomplete without its full complement of trustees, and from the trust's point of view there are no restrictions as to whom you may nominate." On Monday night, councillors considered advice from EHDC which was that they would have a prejudicial interest once members became trustees, or even if they were appointed as representatives. They would be able only to make a statement on a matter regarding the Newman Collard Trust and would then have to withdraw from the council chamber. Mr Linsley pleaded with fellow parish councillors to continue the current arrangement for six months to give the current representatives a chance to show they could act in the best interests of the village. Clearly exasperated by the lengthy battle between the two sides, Paddy Payne left the council meeting telling fellow members he was "very tired and upset". He was angry that decisions made by the parish council appeared to have been overturned by Newman Collard trustees, and he told parish councillors: "This is another prime example of the tail wagging the dog." Mr Payne told the council the trustees took more money from the parish council than any other single group in the village. He did not believe that by "cowtowing" to the Newman Collard trustees, parish councillors were sending out good signs to the village, and he was further concerned that trustees refused to meet in public and were "non-accountable" to the public. Mr Mayo said he "endorsed every word" Mr Payne said. But parish councillors voted by nine to two (with one abstention) to appoint up to three trustees to the Newman Collard Playing Fields Trust. They will decide who to appoint in October.
