Villagers plan protest to keep pressure on town councillors over 'bullying' clerk with demonstrations next week

Dozens are planning to take placards to protest at next week's meeting of Newby & Scalby town council to show the level of concern in the community over the reinstatement of the clerk Jools Marley.

Independent consultants found "clear and categoric" evidence of instances of "aggressive, bullying, and/or intimidating behaviour" by Mrs Marley which left a female member of staff, who was running a successful community hub, on occasion “crying, feeling distressed and fearful".

They recommended disciplinary procedures, however Mrs Marley, who resigned last November, returned to work around a month later in December.

The victim is off sick.

Her husband Rory King told a public meeting at Scalby Temperance hall, near Scarborough, the impact on his wife had been "heartbreaking" and thanked everyone for turning out in her support.

The meeting heard tributes to the "life changing and even life saving" impact of groups she ran, including bereavement counselling and menopause sessions, which scooped a BBC award last year.

Among the audience was Susan Fraser, who came to live in the area with her husband from Scotland. He died just before lockdown in November 2019, and she found herself without friends in a new area and became "really ill", afraid to even go out.

The hub organiser, she said, had been a "life saver" bringing her out of a dark place, adding: “I feel the councillors have let her down big time." Last Wednesday Mrs Fraser and others tried to attend the regular session at the hub, but nobody was in.

Resident John Buckley said he received a "threatening" letter from the council’s chairman after making a series of formal complaints, telling him the matter was "confidential". He told the meeting: "I was not cowed or intimidated".

Consultant gynaecologist Kavita Verma wrote to say the menopause sessions had been very well attended, and were a “unique support group."

North Yorkshire councillor Subash Sharma said the clerk had referred to sessions at the hub as "coffee mornings" which was an "awful misrepresentation":

He said: "Lives were changed. It means these services will never be reinstated - that's the tragedy of it. The parishioners bought a wonderful building, now what we are going to be left with is a building costing £600,000. You will be paying off the mortgage over 20 years."

Previously the council told The Yorkshire Post it "does not permit the publication of press articles concerning the matter without its express written consent" and said "staffing issues" are confidential. It was asked yesterday why it had withdrawn the public forum from next Wednesday's meeting.