I WAS saddened, but not surprised, to read your report (CP, 08-01-21) about the resignation of the last two remaining independent councillors on Bembridge Parish Council.

Both Mr MacLean and Mrs White were professional, honourable and committed individuals seeking only the best for Bembridge.

Recently I was one of the two councillors wrongly expelled from BPC by the chairman and can attest to the truth in their statement about the awful way they and others have been treated by a deeply unpleasant group of councillors.

I can also confirm the lack of competence and poor decision making of those councillors that has cost this community dearly.

The village hall contract, the final straw, is not the first contract to be awarded in circumstances outside of both the word and spirit of legal financial regulations.

There is a culture within this council against anyone who questions councillors and the two clerks, puts forward alternative views, or seeks to hold them to account.

Villagers have been horrified by what they have witnessed in council meetings.

All dissenting voices have now been either pressured out of their elected positions or wrongly kicked off.

A judicial review has been lodged with the High Court in London about the expulsion of two councillors, and will be expensive for parishioners should the council lose.

A previous judicial review against this council cost the community over £40,000.

If local elections take place in May it will be the electorate’s only chance in four years to return BPC to accountability by the community, and openness about the way it behaves.

Bembridge deserves better.

Read more letters sent to the County Press here. Do you have a view on this or any other subject? Send us a letter to editor@iwcp.co.uk