A SENIOR councillor is set to resign his committee post after accusing senior council officers of a lack of respect.
Borough councillor Peter Farrell intends to resign as chairman of the Harbour Board committee after claiming he was ‘kept in the dark’ about a key meeting with Condor Ferries.
Coun Farrell said he was only informed of the meeting, which no elected members of the council attended, 12 days after it was held.
He is still unsure of the details of the meeting held on July 28 between Weymouth and Portland Borough Council officers and Condor bosses.
The meeting was held to discuss an increase in the number of sailings from Weymouth to the Channel Islands and France during the company’s November to March 2012 winter schedule.
Coun Farrell is concerned the committee he has chaired for two years is not being treated with respect and members are not being informed of key decisions and updates on the day- to-day running of the harbour.
Members of a Harbour Board committee heard he was prepared to step down as chairman at next month’s full council meeting unless he was reassured his concerns would be dealt with.
The former merchant seaman told committee members: “Twelve days went by and I didn’t know the meeting had gone on. That to me, as chairman of the board, is not good enough.
“It’s disrespectful to me and has de-motivated me that much I’m reviewing my position on the board and my intention is to resign from this board.”
After the meeting he said: “We were kept in the dark about the future of Condor.
“I just think it’s disrespectful to me and the board in general not to keep us up to speed on something of great importance to this harbour.”
Coun Farrell said he was only informed of the meeting by email when members of the council expressed concern.
He said he knew the meeting was about Condor’s future in Weymouth and it had been a positive meeting but did know the details.
He said: “The future of Condor is a commercial interest and the board need to make decisions about money.
“We need to know what’s being said at this meeting and we don’t.”
A borough council spokesperson said: “The Harbour Management Board plays an important role in the running of this valuable asset to the community.”
Capt Fran Collins, operations director Condor Ferries, said the company was committed to the port.
Traffic flow issue was 'proactively raised'
THE Harbour Management Board is made up of councillors plus two independent members, with membership decided by the full council.
Once membership has been decided, members of the Harbour Management Board elect a chairman.
If the current chairman steps down then they will elect another existing member to take on the role.
Capt Fran Collins, operations director for Condor Ferries, said the meeting between Condor and officers concerned traffic problems in the resort.
She said: “The popularity of our sailings this summer has led to some congestion and we proactively raised this issue at the recent meeting.
“We are aware that there are aspects of the traffic improvement package which are still bedding in and are hopeful that the recent changes to signal controls will improve traffic flow through Weymouth for our passengers.”
She added they would, however, continue to monitor the situation carefully over the coming months as its highest priority would be to make sure the ports they operated from met the needs of their customers, in terms of access and facilities.
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