Ludlow councillors refuse to apologise for making complaints about former mayor
A group of Ludlow councillors have refused to apologise to a former mayor and her husband for making complaints against them regarding their alleged conduct.
Beverley Waite, who represented Clee View ward, stood down from Ludlow Town Council last month, claiming she was bullied and harassed. She said she was subject to multiple complaints and “disparaging remarks”.
In a statement at a town council meeting on January 5, Mrs Waite – who is still serving as a unitary councillor for Ludlow East – specifically named councillors Darren Childs, Robert Owen, and James Hepworth who made the complaints.
At the time the latter two made the complaints they were members of the public, but both are now councillors following last year’s local elections.
Councillor Childs said his complaint, made in December 2024, was against both Mrs Waite and her husband, Stuart Waite, who at the time was a serving councillor. He lost his seat last May.
Councillor Childs claimed they created “a toxic environment” within the council, and because he didn’t “toe their line”, they “singled him out and sought to ostracise him”.
Councillor Childs also said that it was only during the year in which Mrs Waite was mayor that he didn’t sit on any council committees “because of the mob-like ganging up against me and bullying which I was subjected to”.
In response to that, Mrs Waite said she has checked his membership on the town council’s website. She said he was only a member of the policy and finance and services committees but had left both positions by the end of 2023 – before she became mayor in May 2024.
Much of the dispute centres on how Mr and Mrs Waite allegedly dealt with issues regarding a collapsed section of wall next to St Laurence’s Church.
Ludlow Town Council has been at odds with the Parochial Church Council over which authority has responsibility for the upkeep of the wall, and who should be held liable.
Mrs Waite said that none of the complaints were upheld.
At a town council meeting on January 26, Mr Waite asked if Councillors Childs, Owen and Hepworth would now accept that the multiple letters of complaints were made without full knowledge of the facts and circumstances.
“In light of their current position, do they concede that those complaints were misplaced, and would they be prepared to offer a public apology to the councillors concerned?” asked Mr Waite.
In a joint response, the named councillors said: “We emphatically reject any suggestion that an apology by any of us is called for in relation to any of these complaints.
“The actions we complained about were all matters of legitimate concern to residents of Ludlow. We are ready to make available the text of our complaints, together with the responses of the monitoring officer, to any member of the public who requests to see them."
