Brandon town councillor Penny Etherington proposes no-confidence vote in chairman Phil Wittam and vice-chairman Gary Brocklehurst

A vote of no confidence has taken place at one Suffolk town council.

On Monday, during a Brandon Town Council meeting, Cllr Penny Etherington proposed a vote of no confidence aimed at the council’s chairman, Cllr Phil Wittam, and vice-chairman, Cllr Gary Brocklehurst.

This follows public concerns by Cllr Etherington in 2020 in which she accused both Cllr Wittam and now West Suffolk deputy leader, Cllr Victor Lukaniuk, of bullying.

At the time, although complaints were lodged by residents to the district council regarding Cllr Wittam’s behaviour towards members of the public and fellow councillors, West Suffolk Council has confirmed no formal complaint was made to the monitoring officer.

Monday’s vote follows last month’s spat over the approval of St Peter’s Church Institute’s alcohol licence, which saw two objection letters being filed under Cllr Wittam and Cllr Jools Savage’s name, raising several concerns, including potentially encouraging drink driving.

However, following the approval, Cllr Savage admitted she had never been against the licence and her letter had been ‘heavily influenced’ by Cllr Wittam.

Cllr Wittam said he had only ‘minimally altered’ the letter to ‘make it run coherently’.

He explained he had brought the issue to Cllr Savage after 19 residents came to him reiterating their concerns having not been able to contact Cllr Savage, but that she had a ‘mind of her own’.

Cllr Savage said she had learned a huge lesson and has since withdrawn from the West Suffolk Independents Party and now sits at the council as a non-affiliated independent.

She said: “Over the short time I’ve been within this role, I’ve heard a lot, I’ve seen a lot, and I don’t like it.”

During the meeting, Canon Sharron Coburn of St Peter’s Church, said: “We will not be a serious town, with any clout whatsoever, while we have Cllr Wittam at the chair.

“We will not attract funding, we will not attract anyone to come into this town to do anything while we have puppets and muppets at the top.”

Cllr Lukaniuk has also come under fire for urging councillors to continue with council business, before conducting a vote on Cllr Etherington’s proposal.

Reacting to the proposal, Cllr Lukaniuk said: “Why don’t we just get on with the meeting instead of people grandstanding.

“There’s always people throwing stones from the sidelines, that’s the problem — they don’t volunteer, they throw stones from the sidelines.”

Sue Miller, 63, is a Brandon resident and said after the meeting she would like to see both Cllr Wittam and Cllr Lukaniuk removed from office.

She added: “They had a vote of no confidence from fellow councillors, plus the public, and just ignored it.

“They shout people down, they ignore them. Anybody who tries to speak, they’re just downright rude.

“There’s something fundamentally wrong about Brandon council, it’s a joke. I feel very let down, not listened to.”

All 13 town councillors were present, with nine showing support for the vote of no confidence.

Cllr Wittam and Cllr Lukaniuk were approached for comment.