It is much to be regretted that when South Hams District Council’s standards committee heard complaints about Kingswear parish councillor Mike Trevorrow, he failed to attend the hearing and give account, in the Chronicle, July 14, he asks for ‘three simple points’ to be considered.

1. Whether it was good use of public money to have a hearing about the complaints against him.

I am afraid that is the price of democratic accountability – no one is above reproach.

Mr Trevorrow could have obviated an inquiry, hearing and reprimand, had he apologised for the hurt and harm done by his having allowed an anonymous letter to be read at a parish council meeting he chaired, and which made serious allegations about the integrity of three named councillors.

The fact that he voted against a proposal that Kingswear Parish Council should inquire into these allegations is not coherent with his opinion that: “It is important residents should be aware of the whole story.” As he wrote in By the Dart December 2015.

2. “I have told the truth and not been believed.”

About what Cllr Trevorrow does not say, but he could have clarified his concerns had he attended the SHDC hearing.

3. “The people bringing the case against me in September 2015 had only one contribution to village life at that stage, namely that they had vehemently opposed the creation of a children’s playground.”

Hyperbole. All three councillors against whom the allegations were made had contributed in many ways. The playground issue had been settled in December 2014 and January 2015, and affirmed in June 2015, when Cllr Elizabeth Essex had only just joined the council. She had abstained from voting on the playground matter.

Moreover, as Cllr Trevorrow has made clear – the motive for the compilers and the signatories in making the allegations, “…was categorically not anything to do with the playground: it was a response to an insidious campaign of persuasion by at least two of the councillors in question, who were doing their absolute best to make sure that as many councillors as possible would vote against chairman Jonathan Hawkins chairmanship”, Dartmouth Chronicle, September 25, 2015. It is a red herring to drag the playground into the issue of anonymously authored allegations against councillors, and the public promulgation of those allegations. That is the matter SHDC received complaints about.

Cllr Trevorrow contrasts his own contributions to village life with those of the three councillors. He might well have a high repute as a pantomime director, regatta administrator and so on, but that is irrelevant, and another red herring.

The issue is his complicity with the reading out of allegations which harmed and distressed three councillors.

His co-operation with the SHDC inquiry would have been helpful. He can yet contribute to the restoration of Kingswear’s harmony by assisting inquiry into the allegations. He has much to offer, but will need to focus on the issue in hand – the harm caused by anonymous letters.

Dr Richard Rawlins

Beacon Road, Kingswear