New chairman says 'let's work together' after 'bickering' at Wooburn and Bourne End Parish Council (From Bucks Free Press)

New chairman says 'let's work together' after 'bickering' at Wooburn and Bourne End Parish Council

4:09pm Friday 5th March 2010 in

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A NEW parish chairman has called on a council to “work together”, following what critics have described as a 'pantomime period of bickering'.

The parish clerk has walked out of two Wooburn and Bourne End Parish Council meetings this year and the previous chairman Julia Langley resigned because of a 'breakdown' in relations with the clerk, the Bucks Free Press understands.

Councillor Janet Gould has now taken on the chair and wants the council to move forward.

She joked it had been an 'entertaining' two months but called for parishioners to “give me a chance”.

She said: “I get on very well with the clerk and we have been discussing how we can move forwards now - we all have to work together.

And she hit out at parishioners who “like to be in the press” saying: “We have just become very thick skinned because they criticise us for not doing anything and then the same people criticise us when we try and do things.”

She said controversial plans to install a skate park and aerial slide in Wooburn Park were “on the back burner” while the council looks at a consultation into all the play areas in the parish.

Parishioner John Sendall has been a long standing critic of the council but said Cllr Gould “seemed like a practical sort of person” and said “of course” he would give her a chance.

He added: “I don't enjoy criticising the council but the problem is they do things that affect the community.

“It's my democratic right to talk to whoever I like and it's unfair to imply that I'm seeking publicity.”

Chris Baker, the chairman of Wooburn Green Residents Association, said he would let Cllr Gould “get settled in” before contacting her to resume talks with the council.

Last year relations between the organisations broke down completely after the council said it wanted to build the skate park and aerial slide.

Cllr Gould takes over the chair until May when she hopes to be voted into the position for a full term.