A VILLAGE is in uproar after one of its leaders was assaulted at a parish council meeting.

The man was grabbed by the throat and had to be rescued by colleagues, it has been alleged.

Feelings are running high in chocolate-box village Milton Abbas over possible building on the site of the redundant village school, as reported on Monday October 31.

One councillor told the Echo that the dispute was like "a little civil war".

There was an informal meeting of seven councillors in a private house to discuss how to canvass village opinion on whether an extra home should go up.

If they say yes, they could net perhaps £150,000 from the Salisbury diocese for educational use in the village.

A female councillor is said to have crossed swords with Cllr John Fifield and stormed out of the meeting.

Ten minutes later a member of the public is said to have burst into the room, demanding that Mr Fifield step outside.

When he refused, he was grabbed by the throat and it took chairman Ian Maxwell and Cllr Alan Whale several minutes to loosen his assailant's hold.

Cllr Maxwell said: "We had to struggle to separate the two - we tried to restrain him.

"I was fearful that the councillor being assaulted was going to suffer some real physical harm.

"The councillor was very upset and shaken - we were all upset and shaken.

"It's not the sort of thing you expect to happen."

Mr Maxwell added that he had reported the matter to the Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils and to North Dorset's monitoring officer.

Cllr Fifield issued a statement saying that he had been subjected to "a frenzied attack" and had had to visit his doctor.

Dorset police confirmed that a complaint of an assault at Milton Abbas had been received.

District councillor Michael Cox deplored the attack, saying that those who chose to serve the community should be free to do so without being subjected to violence.

"The problem with Milton Abbas is there are these people who have moved in over the years," he said."They live in the little thatched cottages and they want to see everything preserved in aspic.

"They don't have young children themselves and they don't think of the community, only themselves.

"It's a very divided community - I just loathe attending the parish council."

First published: November 2, 2005