NEW COUNCIL SETTLES OLD DEBT

The newly elected Council has taken steps to finalise the long running legal battle with its ex Town Clerk at a cost of up to £81000.

The case originated during the tenure of the 1999/2003 council when the then Councillor Atkins took out a libel action against Col. Stevens, which was unsuccessful. Col. Stevens was unable to recover his complete costs from Mr. Atkins and subsequently claimed the difference of £22000 from NATC under an indemnity included in his Contract of Employment from the Council.

The 2003/07 Council contested this claim, which, despite these efforts, was finally, upon legal advice, settled in full earlier this year, resulting in substantial legal costs. It is these costs that the new council has now resolved to settle.

“In retrospect the Council was incorrectly advised and was probably wrong in resisting this action.”, said Roy Gentry Chairman of NATC. “We would undoubtedly have been better off settling this matter over a year ago when it was first raised.”

Commenting on the decision to bring this matter into the public domain Cllr. Gentry added. “It was not appropriate to discuss this matter publicly whilst the court case was pending and although the case was settled at the end of March it was decided that it would be better to allow the incoming council to make the final decision on the matter and resolve other issues as to costs. I’m pleased we are now able to make the residents of Alresford aware of the circumstances of this situation and we will be making a statement on the financial implications of these decisions once we have evaluated all the options open to us.”

11 May 2007