THE dispute which has split the village of Great Coates for the past two years appears set to rumble on, after the local residents' association called for a vote of no confidence in the village council.
Great Coates Residents Association (Grass) and the village council have been at loggerheads since November when the village council controversially decided to take out a loan of £300,000 to fund the construction of a new village hall despite widespread opposition from residents.
That move triggered a community governance review conducted by North East Lincolnshire Council, which although stopping short of recommending the village council be abolished, highlighted a number of failings and issued a series of recommendations for improvement.
One of these was to engage more closely with Grass. However both sides have appeared reluctant to work together.
In August it appeared a major breakthrough had been made when the village council voted to officially recognise Grass as a legitimate residents' association.
However, a month later it rescinded that decision after allegations surfaced that some villagers had been refused membership of Grass – an allegation that Grass categorically denies.
At its latest meeting, Grass snubbed an invitation from the village council to join the village hall committee, saying that until the village council altered its stance towards Grass it did not see how they could be accommodated.
Grass members also resolved to write to the village council asking for them to provide proof of the allegations.
Grass member Shiny Thomas told the meeting that some people had asked to join Grass through the website but failed to provide contact details when asked.
Afterwards, village council chairman Nicola Maasdam said: "It is a difficult one. If members of the public come to us with information we have to take that in good faith.
"If they tell us something verbally we don't always have documentary evidence."
She admitted the situation could descend into a stalemate but indicated that if Grass continued to hold its meetings in public that would go a long way to resolving the impasse.
However, she added that in order to show it was more than just a pressure group, Grass needed to have more on its agenda than "beating the village council".
Grass chairman Mr Lawrance questioned how the village council could invite Grass to join the village hall committee when it didn't even recognise it as a legitimate body.
Responding to the accusation that Grass was only a pressure group, he said: "Once the village council shows itself to be open, accountable, democratic and have financial acumen then Grass's role will alter. Until then it will continue to act as a monitoring operation."
Great Coates Village Council meets at 7pm tonight at the village hall in Cooks Lane.
Fresh criticism over maintenance of footpath in village The village council faced fresh accusations of wasting council taxpayers' money after it emerged it had taken on responsibility for maintaining a narrow strip of land from a housing developer. The land running between the back of Newbury Avenue and Allington Drive was supposed to be maintained by Linden Homes under a planning condition attached to the housing development. However several residents who used the area as a footpath complained that it had become wild and overgrown, and the village council has decided to take the land on itself. Grass chairman Ray Lawrance described the decision as "absolute madness" and said: "We have seen no costings." Speaking after the meeting, village council chairman Nicola Maasdam insisted the matter had been reported to NELC's planning department several times. "We have been chasing it up for a number of years; we had so many complaints from residents about the state of it. It was just awful." She said the area had been comprehensively cleaned up at a cost of £400, paid for by Linden Homes as part of the agreement. She could not say how much regular maintenance of the site would cost but said: "We are going to get the best price we can. It has been cleaned out and the shrubbery has been cut so all it will need is a lawn mower going down it every so often."Follow us on Facebook and Twitter