Calls for Bishop's Castle town clerk to be removed

A heated meeting organised by Bishop’s Castle Town Council heard calls for the removal of Gwilym Rippon amid concerns about the council’s financial affairs and claims the town council could be on the brink of insolvency.

Mr Rippon was previously clerk in Clun, but resigned two months ago saying his personal and professional commitments meant he couldn't give the job the time it required.

But Councillor James McVicar, the interim clerk, alleges there have been missing invoices, and accused Mr Rippon of a “poor handover” when he left.

Mr Rippon said he could not comment as he wasn't at the meetings, but will be at the annual Bishop’s Castle Town Council meeting this Tuesday (May 19). An extraordinary meeting is being held in private today (Monday), after being called by the Mayor of Bishop’s Castle, Councillor Josh Dickin.

Miranda Stanley, whose home is attached to Bishop’s Castle Town Hall, explained that, in 2023, she noticed that the hall’s chimney stack was damaged, but was told by Mr Rippon that the town hall’s roofing and chimney officer found no problem, despite him needing to go up the scaffolding and into her attic to inspect.

Mrs Stanley accused Mr Rippon of “fabricating the truth” and told her “she would be wasting public money”.  Eventually, the repairs were carried out.

“The council has lost three good councillors in the last few years who were unable to work with the town clerk, Gwilym Rippon,” said Mrs Stanley.

“I personally find him rude, unreliable, and a fabricator of the truth. And I put forward a vote of no confidence in his ability to carry out his work correctly and in a dignified manner of our town.”

Simon Gregg said he had spoken “to a whole host of experts” about the picture at the town council.

He said: “The experts’ very sobering conclusions are that we are pretty much non-compliant, unnecessarily paying out vast sums of money, and in the trajectory on the brink of insolvency, if not this year, but next year.”

Mr Gregg claims that during the 2023/24 internal audit report, the council failed to claim £22,640 in VAT over a three-year period, with returns either submitted out of date, or not at all. The deputy town clerk, Sarah Smith, said all money has since been claimed and no penalties incurred.

Mrs Smith said she “felt attacked” by the constant questioning, adding that concerns or questions should have been emailed to her beforehand. This, she said, would have allowed her to prepare the answers.

“If you’re intent to make me look unprofessional and incompetent, then please don’t do it in this setting," she said.

Bishop’s Castle Town Council’s Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) for 2023/24 showed it failed in 14 of of the 15 areas of internal control.

A member of the public alleged that the council’s accounts for 2022/23 and 2023/24 were corrected after they were approved to the sum of £120,000," which Mrs Smith explained.

“The figures do look all over the place from 2022 to 2024," she said.

“The council and the clerk took the decision that they had to employ an assistant financial officer with accounting qualifications – I was employed in 2024, and have been looking at the processes.

“We have since been internally audited twice, and externally audited.

“I can ensure council and members of the public that we are listening to everything the auditor is saying, and our accounts are all available for anybody to see. There has been no financial mis-management, it’s just the accounting processes and how it was recorded. It is still a work in progress.”

Bishop's Castle Town Council hold their meetings at the town hall. Picture: LDRS

Another resident, Sue Cooper, asked why the complaint’s procedure on the town council’s website had not been reviewed since 2013.

“One of the contacts given is the past mayor from 2013,” she said.

“I know three recent examples of the mishandling of residents’ formal complaints from the town council where procedures were not followed. One person received no reply and it was never dealt with.

“It’s the application that has failed to the great detriment to some residents.”

Councillor Julia Magill confirmed she too had a complaint against the clerk, which hasn’t been followed up.

“In July, the mayor called an extraordinary meeting because of complaints and the standard of work of the clerk," she said.

“Councillors voted a vote of no confidence against the clerk. The mayor and myself gathered five [pieces of] evidence which we took to staffing meetings – each time, we were pretty much blocked in what we wanted to do.

“We also went to the finance committee as well. Some of us have tried our best to address the problem with the clerk. The only thing we can do know is the mayor calls another extraordinary meeting and find out what can be done to get the ball rolling to get the clerk dismissed.”

Councillor Dickin said the concerns raised have to be addressed, saying: “It is a council that needs to be outward looking, and that is something that needs to be addressed.

"Please be assured we will look into it.”