Veteran county councillor David Whipp ‘thrown off’ committee

County councillor David Whipp has been a prominent figure in West Craven’s local politics for over 40 years, having previously served as the Liberal Democrat leader of Pendle Council. But in May’s local elections he lost his seat to Reform’s Cllr Glenn Whittaker by seven votes, also meaning he no longer served on any committees as a Pendle councillor.

But Cllr Whipp remained a Lancashire County Council (LCC) representative for Pendle Rural, which covers West Craven, and in June was co-opted to sit on the West Craven area committee.

This meant he was a member and was able to bring topics for discussion and move items, but could not vote on matters as Pendle councillors can.

But on Tuesday, November 3, members of the West Craven area committee voted to ‘throw him off’.

Members discussed an item on whether or not to revoke the co-option of Lancashire County councillors, of which there were two – Cllr Whipp and Reform Cllr Nathan McCollum, also of Pendle Rural.

Councillor Lola Whipp of Pendle Council, Liberal Democrat and David Whipp’s daughter, said Cllr McCollum had not attended any of the meetings, while her father had been to all of them.

She added: “He has championed several issues from the county council through this committee and he’s done a very good job of that.

“It’s got to be around 40 items on the agenda since that co-option that Cllr David Whipp has brought here, discussed with us and sought to make a resolution to further the work that needs to happen to improve where we live.”

Cllr Lola Whipp added having all three levels of local government – parish, district and county councils – was ‘very effective’ and removing it would be a ‘devastating blow’ to the effects of the committee.

But parish councillor Leanne Barrett, chair of Barnoldswick Town Council, another co-opted member of the committee, said: “I do not feel that an LCC representative is necessary or required for the work of this committee to be fulfilled.

“So I would propose that we do consider revoking that.”

Councillor Susan Land, Liberal Democrat, said: “I can remember for about 12 months when we didn’t have an LCC member on the committee, where we were asking local councillors to come and give advice, help us out with certain things at the meetings.

“They didn’t want to know, we couldn’t get the county councillors to come along. I think it’s a bad move to not continue to keep this support.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor Chris Church said having all three levels of local government at one meeting was ‘unique’ and ‘should not be thrown away’.

But Councillor Glenn Whittaker, Reform, said the county councillors were ‘not representative of LCC’, adding if the committee needed something specific in future then it could ask for an ‘official representative’.

Chair, Cllr David Hartley, Conservative, said: “Lancashire County Councillor Whipp has a vast knowledge of 40 years of local planning in his head.”

But he said the planning rules had changed so he ‘did not see the need for that knowledge’.

Cllr D Hartley, Cllr Bryony Hartley – both of whom crossed the floor from the Liberal Democrats to the Conservatives last month – and Cllr Whittaker voted to revoke LCC members from the committee, while the three Lib Dem councillors voted against the motion.

But Cllr D Hartley had the casting vote as chair, choosing to remove councillors Whipp and McCollum from the committee.

The chair asked county councillor Whipp to take a seat in the audience, thanking him for his hard work.

He replied: “Well thank you chair. I’ll get that knife out of my back now.”

The chair said there was ‘no need for that’ as Cllr D Whipp got up and sat in the public gallery.

Taking to Facebook after the meeting, he said he was ‘disappointed’ with the ‘petty decision’ to ‘throw’ him off the committee, calling it ‘vindictive’.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said: “I think the presence of county councillors adds value to discussions, most issues on agendas aren’t what Pendle Council does, whether it is a water company, electrical companies, police, there are a range of issues and the county council is on that list.

“I was involved in setting area committees up in Pendle back in 1995, and for almost 30 years county councillors were on that committee.

“It is really beneficial, with joint-working, allowing links between different councils.

“But now one channel of resolving issues has been blocked off because of political machinations.”

He described the decision as a ‘witch hunt’, adding: “My only big regret is this is a disservice to residents in the area, rather than helping to solve problems, it creates them.”