A councillor walked out of a meeting to elect a new mayor for Bridgnorth amid chaotic scenes.

Bridgnorth Councillor Geoff Bodenham stormed out of yesterday’s meeting of the town council after he was refused permission to make a statement about the treatment of the town clerk.

The meeting managed to elect a new mayor and deputy – but had to be cancelled early when other councillors said they had to leave for other engagements.

The meeting ended up with too few councillors to legally continue.

Councillor Bodenham walked out after asking if he could make a statement after the election of the new mayor.

His request was refused and he left saying: “Rather than affect the harmony of the meeting I shall leave.”

Deputy mayor Councillor Val Gill was elected unanimously to replace her predecessor Mac Griffiths, who died last month. Councillor Connie Baines became the new deputy mayor.

During the meeting town clerk Rachel Humphries and her staff were criticised by councillors as questions were raised about how hard she was working as well as alleged errors in the minutes of previous meetings.

Councillors eventually decided that minutes of meetings should be kept on tape until they had been signed off by the full council, but a staff member should also make written records of business.

Ms Humphries was also requested to present a detailed report of her duties or time sheet to members by Councillor Jennifer Durham.

Fellow councillor Ed Shirley also said he would like more information about the work of the town clerk but Ms Humphries said: “It is unfortunate that some councillors have been questioning what I have been doing.

“If I produced a time sheet it would become apparent the extra hours I have been doing.”

Several key items were still to be debated when the meeting was brought to an early halt, including confidential staffing and property issues and other matters affecting the payment of accounts.

Councillors had been debating the starting time of future meetings when several members claimed to have other engagements, forcing the meeting to be halted because there were less than six members present.

New deputy mayor Councillor Connie Baines described the meeting as a fiasco.

Speaking after the meeting, new mayor Councillor Gill said: “It wasn’t the best of meetings and it didn’t end very well at all but I will be working very hard to make sure we can all move forward and work together.”