A PARISH councillor has resigned in protest after his council proposed to use coronavirus emergency funds to pay the clerk to work more hours.

Mark Franks resigned from his position as a Blackbird Leys parish councillor on October 27 after he became ‘frustrated’ with the way the council was run.

Mr Franks, who works as an administrator in the NHS, said several incidents led to his resignation.

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One of the issues Mr Franks raised was the proposal to use some of the parish’s emergency coronavirus funds from the Government to pay for the clerk Emma Kearney to work longer hours.

At a meeting to conduct an ‘appraisal’ of Ms Kearney’s work, on October 13, councillors were told that, during the coronavirus pandemic, she had worked more than 52 hours in overtime for the council.

Ms Kearney also told the council that she was still regularly working over her allocated 16 hours a week, so she proposed that she should officially start working for 25 hours a week to cover all of her tasks.

Council chairman Robert Davies and vice-chairman Peter Nowland agreed to this suggestion, and proposed to use cash from the ‘Emergency Covid’ fund to to pay for the increase.

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According to a meeting report seen by the Oxford Mail, the ‘budget virement’ for this move would need to be £3,486.80.

Mr Franks said he had also become ‘annoyed’ at the way the council handled a planning application for the proposed demolition of the Church of the Holy Family in Blackbird Leys.

He claimed the council had misrepresented his views in its response to the planning application.

The ex-councillor also said he was put on the working grants committee without his consultation.

He said: “I explained, as I work for the NHS, and as it’s a pandemic, I am really busy and I also explained that I was already the chair of the planning committee. It was unfair that I was put on the committee.”

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Mr Franks said he tried to explain his argument during a ‘virtual’ council meeting held using the video conferencing program Zoom, but he said the chairman muted him because he said he ‘was being rude’.

Mr Franks posted his resignation letter onto his Facebook page.

In the comments on his Facebook post, parish councillor Lorenzo de Gregori addressed Mr Davies and said: “Last night you were rude when you muted Mark and prevented him from finishing his speech, if he has 3 minutes he has 3 minutes, whether you like it or not, and should not be up to you to decide who speaks and who doesn’t. Being the chair doesn’t mean you can silence a fellow councillor."

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City councillor Linda Smith also commented on Mr Franks’ Facebook post, criticising the way the parish meetings were run: “I have to say, the meeting last night was pretty hard going and frustrating (and I left after an hour and a half), it doesn’t seem like a place to either take decisions or get things done at the moment.”

This muting, Mr Franks said, was the ‘main’ reason for his resignation.

The Oxford Mail asked the council to comment to Mr Franks' complaints.

In a statement, Ms Kearney said: “Blackbird Leys Parish Council acknowledged and accepted Mark Franks’ resignation, thanked him for his efforts whilst being a councillor, and also wished him every success in whatever he chooses to do in his life’s ventures."