Councillor banned from meetings for second time

CONTROVERSIAL councillor Tom Reynolds has been barred from attending  committee and working group meetings at Frodsham Town Council – for the second time in nine months.
The council last night voted that he should not be allowed to attend or take part in meetings of any committees, sub-committees or working groups of which The Mayor, Cllr Mallie Poulton, and Cllr Donna Critchley are members, until he has attended Equality and Diversity Training.
Cllr Reynolds – who was last suspended in December following allegations of “bullying” – was not at the meeting but sent his apologies.
The new suspension follows Code of Conduct complaints against Cllr Reynolds by the Mayor and Cllr Donna Critchley
Chairman Cllr Judith Critchley – who stressed that she was in a difficult positon as one of the complainants was her sister – told the meeting that the Mayor and Cllr Donna Critchley had attended the Liverpool Gay Pride event in July, at the invitation of the Lord Mayor of Liverpool.
Subsequently Cllr Reynolds emailed fellow councillors objecting to Cllr Poulton’s “way” of “promoting” Frodsham and seeking to control and limit Cllr Poulton’s activities as Mayor, particularly in relation to matters relating to the LGBT community.
There were further email exchanges in which Cllr Reynolds showed disrespect to Cllr Donna Critchley and made further homophobic remarks.
On August 8, the two councillors made a formal complaint to the Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) monitoring officer. They claimed Cllr Reynolds was seeking to ensure Frodsham Town Council only served selected parts of the local community by restricting activities for LGBT residents in contravention of the Equality Act 2010.
The complaint also cited examples of previous homophobic comments made by Cllr Reynolds.
CWaC’s monitoring officer decided to refer the complaint to the chairman of Frodsham Town Council for informal action with a recommendation that Cllr Reynolds undertook Equality and Diversity Training in relation to his duties as a councillor.
Cllr Judith Critchley said she was liaising with The Proud Trust, which had already carried out training for CWaC, to identify appropriate training. Cllr Reynolds would be asked to attend.
Several councillors expressed doubts about banning Cllr Reynolds in his absence, but the meeting was told he had refused to attend.
The chairman said the council did not have the power to prevent Cllr Reynolds attending full council meetings but could bar him from attending committees and sub-committees.
Members voted to bar him until  he had attended Equality and Diversity Training.
After the meeting, Cllr Reynolds denied being homophobic and said he had been completely unaware “homophobia” was to be discussed at the meeting.
He said he had questioned the way the Mayor was representing Frodsham simply because he appeared to be assuming authority to speak and act for the council without authority from the council.
Cllr Reynolds added: “What a disservice certain FTC councillors have done to the Frodsham LGBT community who just want to get on with their lives outside the ‘glare’ this will cause.
“Let’s now openly discuss homophobia in Frodsham because there’s an awful lot of Frodsham residents who are uncomfortable with the way the LGBT agenda is being promoted within our community.”