The mass resignation at last week’s Colyton Parish Council meeting came after chairman Howard West, his wife Anne, and one other member resigned following a fall-out with the parish council in February, and claims they had received threats from a councillor.

It leaves only three parish councillors and the Mayor of Colyford, John Mills, sitting on the committee.

Last year, Colyton Parish Council agreed to develop a neighbourhood plan, which will shape how the parish is developed in future years, and asked for volunteers to come forward to work on the project. Separate committees were set up in Colyton and Colyford, consisting of both councillors and volunteers, to deal with the individual issues which faced the two communities, as well as an overarching steering group to bring representatives from the two committees together.

However, the process has got off to a slow start and has been marred by fall-outs between the Colyford volunteers and parish council.

At last week’s heated parish council meeting held in Colyford, [a] letter of resignation was read on behalf of seven Colyford volunteers – Sue Boorman, Mike Elsey, Peter Mason, Diana Nason, Ian Priestley, Liz Thomas and Tim Wheeler. …

[The letter goes into detail and continues]