Police called and Maldon council meeting abandoned in Jackie Weaver-style night
It's after a councillors outburst last night
Last updated 6th Nov 2021
A council meeting was forced to be abandoned after police were called to attend to a councillor’s outburst last night.
Councillor Chrisy Morris (Ind, Heybridge West) repeatedly shouted “point of order” over the other councillors as they attempted to conduct a Maldon District Council meeting last night (November 4).
Some councillors cheered as a police officer arrived and told Cllr Morris he was “breaching the peace”.
Councillors voted to remove him from the meeting, but he refused to leave.
They also voted to ban him from appearing on any committees or working groups until May 2023.
After only half an hour, councillors walked out and closed the meeting early in protest of Cllr Morris’ behaviour.
Cllr Morris claimed he had a democratic right to speak at the meeting.
He said: “I have every right to speak here, I’ve been elected.
“I’ve been elected. This is democracy. You might not like me but you’ve got to listen to me.”
Council Chair Mark Heard (Ind, Maldon West) asked officers to leave after the outburst began.
He said at the meeting: “We are at the situation that I have to look at the duty of care that this council has towards those members of the staff.”
He then said: “I have to say, Cllr Morris, you are living in a world of insults, allegations and conflict. The standards committee found you to be a liar and a bully and you are demonstrating that now.”
According to reporting by the Maldon and Burnham Standard, Cllr Morris has previously been investigated by the standards committee for “aggressive” behaviour, but was cleared of breaching the code of conduct.
The meeting started with a minute’s silence, during which Cllr Morris can be heard to say “it should be upstanding, one minute’s silence upstanding.”
Afterwards, he started to shout “point of order” over the chair.
The council were due to debate items on the district’s local development plan, approving One Maldon District and setting a new council tax base.
But none of these could be discussed or voted on because of the disruption.
The meeting went into private session in an attempt to solve the issue.
After the meeting was brought back into session, Cllr Morris still refused to leave. Cllr Heard then asked councillors to rise and walk out in protest before closing the meeting.
Cllr Morris also appeared to be recording the meeting himself on a mobile phone.