Tory pair at loggerheards over town council’s value

A BITTER row has erupted between leading Brixham councillors who are at loggerheads over who should lead the port into the next century.

Torbay ward councillor for Brixham Terry Manning, a Tory, has called the town council a pointless waste of money and branded some local councillors ‘power mad’.

But town council chairman Martyn Hodge, a fellow Tory, has hit back, accusing Cllr Manning of holding a grudge against the town council since he withdrew his support for the call-in bid to save the Old Market House.

But Cllr Manning, Torbay’s Tory vice-chairman, insists that the town council “has done nothing for Brixham” and is an expensive drain on taxpayers.

Cllr Hodge rubbished Cllr Manning’s claims and highlighted some of the positive contributions the town council had made, including the Christmas lights and market, allotments, and grants to local charities.

The showdown was sparked after Cllr Manning opposed the town council’s plan to take over running the Victorian town hall.

Town council members are investigating taking on the management of the Grade II building if Torbay Council pays £75,000 to carry out urgent repairs.

Cllr Manning questioned the move, saying: “The town hall really is in a pretty bad state. If anything goes wrong it will be down to the people of Brixham to pay for it.

“People in Torquay Town Hall are only too pleased to let Brixham have it, because it’s an expensive burden. If Torbay can’t make it pay, Brixham isn’t going to be able to make it pay.

“Council tax in Brixham is already higher than in Paignton and Torquay. I can’t see what actually the town council has done for Brixham. OK, we’ve got a bit more of a voice — but we had that with Brixham21 and it cost us nothing.

“All they are in charge of is allotments and things like that. They’re trying quite hard with planning, but it’s only a voice, it doesn’t make any difference to the decisions.

“They can put their views across for the people of Brixham, but is that enough for what we are paying out to have a town council?

“I’m not trying to be vindictive, but I can’t see anything they’ve done for us.

“If the referendum was held again I think they would be very lucky to get back in again.

“It has alienated Torbay Council in some ways. The Bay should be a big family. I think Brixham would like to be independent of Torbay. Some of the councillors have gone a bit power mad.”

Cllr Hodge denied this, saying: “We don’t want to move away from Torbay. What we would like is more consultation on issues.”

Responding to Cllr Manning’s other accusations, Cllr Hodge said: “Terry has always said he didn’t agree with a town council from the start, and I don’t know why. The people of Brixham wanted it, and they got it.

“None of us are power crazy and none of us are getting paid. I disagree with him totally about it being a waste of money.

“We do our best to give Brixham a voice, and that’s why we are standing up for the Market House — which Terry has pulled out of — because we think there has not been any proper consultation.”

Town council clerk Ki Barnes said Torbay planners agreed with Brixham’s views on 101 applications last year, disagreeing on only 19. She said Cllr Manning, who represents St Mary’s with Summercombe, had only attended two town council meetings since it formed three years ago.