POLICE were called and a Leigh Town Council meeting was moved into private session as residents demanded answers over cash being spent following the suspension of its clerk.

Essex Police received calls to the community centre, in Elm Road, at 9.15pm on Tuesday following information assessing “threat, harm and risk posed”.

The meeting – called to discuss the town council’s budget – went into private session  because of “unruly behaviour” to the council’s stand-in clerk following the suspension of Helen Symmons.

As councillors left the main meeting room, furious residents launched a slow hand-clap in protest.

Bernard Arscott, chairman of the Conservative-run council, defended his actions saying the advice from the monitoring officer to the locum clerk was to continue the meeting behind closed doors due to the public “interrupting the council by screaming and shouting”.

Carole Mulroney, St Clements ward councillor, who serves as an independent on the town council, said: “There was audience participation, and people were quite upset over not getting an answer about how much the on-going suspension of Helen Symmons is costing the taxpayer.

"People were upset because at the end of the day, it’s their money. There were some noises from the audience.

“The Conservatives went out, came back and then packed up and went upstairs to carry on. The public have the right to know what their money is being spent on, but don’t have the right to cause disruption.

“Leigh Town Council needs to be functioning properly. However, it’s not at the moment.”

Also in attendance was Lydia Hyde, St Laurence ward Labour councillor, who has now called a meeting with the council’s monitoring officer to establish what can be done.

She said it was a “complete disgrace” and people “would’ve paid to see this panto on stage if it wasn’t so serious”.

Responding, Mr Arscott said: “The advice to go to close session was from the monitoring officer to the clerk as members of the public kept interrupting the council.

"They were not willing to accept that participation was over, as well as the unruly behaviour towards the clerk. The police were called to assist the councillors.

A spokesman for Essex Police confirmed the force was called to the community centre.