Reform member joins Garstang council - but party politics are off limits
Reform UK member Gavin Kelly, co-opted onto Garstang Town Council, is told to maintain apolitical stance.
A Reform UK member who gained a seat on Garstang Town Council has been told to leave his politics outside the council chamber.
Retired Catterall resident Gavin Kelly was co-opted onto the grassroots authority after applying to fill a vacant seat and taking part in a private interview and presentation session with existing councillors.
Party labels were not discussed, as the council is not run on political lines, but Mr Kelly’s Reform UK membership was flagged up a few days later when he completed the compulsory declaration of interests form, now published on the council’s website.
Questions from local media to councillors prompted a response that there had been no need for any declaration or political discussion at the co-option meeting because the council is not run on party-political lines.
One civic source said it had been stressed to would-be councillors that the council was run for the community, with zero party politics. The same source said councillors recognised Mr Kelly’s skills, which they thought would benefit council and community.
Another experienced source welcomed Mr Kelly joining the authority, adding: “As long as he doesn’t try to convert us!”
The ripples and potential controversy prompted by his Reform UK membership appear to have taken Coun Kelly by surprise.
He had agreed to give an interview to The Courier last Wednesday, but at a council meeting two days earlier he was handed details of the authority’s policy on press relations, which forbids speaking directly to the media.
Straight after the council meeting he contacted this newspaper to cancel the interview.
The Courier had intended to ask him about his party’s ongoing successes locally and nationally, its gain of 1,400 council seats in this month’s local elections, and plans for next year’s local elections at borough and parish level in Wyre.
Coun Kelly said that, having read the council rules on speaking to the media, he did not want to get into trouble.
He added: “I do see my role on the council as apolitical, with no agenda other than helping the local community now I have retired.”
Reform UK has been building up its party base locally over the past few years. Last year it gained control of Lancashire County Council, with its wins including the three seats in rural Wyre.¶The town council, which stresses its non-party-political stance, is known to work closely with Reform UK’s Garstang county councillor James Tomlinson.