'A storm in a tea cup': Cllr Mike Allen rejects bullying accusations as party political

An East Devon District Councillor who lives in Honiton is planning to quit the authority because of its disregard for democracy, but is himself being accused of bullying behaviour. 

Cllr Mike Allen - who is not part of Honiton Town Council - was involved in an incident on Wednesday at a tree planting celebration involving children from Littletown Primary, which was due to take place on Littletown Green.

Honiton Town Councillor Jake Bonetta accused Cllr Allen of ripping up the prepared bamboo shoots and protesting against the planned works, which Cllr Allen believes should not taking place. He expressed his views - below - as an East Devon District Councillor not as a Honiton Town Councillor.

Cllr Bonetta released the following statement about the event, which was read out out at an East Devon Council meeting on Wednesday 1 March: "When I turned up, I was astounded and shocked to see one of our own councillors, Mike Allen, and a member of the public, ripping prepared bamboo sticks out of the ground and throwing them to the side.

"Not only was Cllr Allen uprooting these bamboo shoots, but he was protesting against the planned works and arguing directly with council staff and myself about the plans.

"As well as this, Cllr Allen was taking photos of the situation and threatening to take further photos of the trees being planted by these children.

"As my four active DBS checks, safeguarding training and experience as a designated safeguarding lead for a not-for-profit has taught me, threatening to take unpermitted photos of kids, whether in an open and public setting or not, is a serious breach of safeguarding responsibilities – on which we have just received mandatory training by the council."

Cllr Allen denies these allegations and says they have been distorted and overblown by Cllr Bonetta for political reasons. 

He told Honiton Nub News: "There are times when a protest against an illegal use of public power needs to be made, so I went into the field and started pulling out the bamboo markers used to site the intended trees.

"Then I walked to a group where Mr. Kimble was having a healthy discussion with two officers trying to point out that their actions were illegal.

"Nobody was threatened, nobody was bullied Jake Bonetta and another Officer joined the group later."

Cllr Allen is objecting to the planting of 247 trees as he argues Littletown Green is one of the last open spaces in Honiton, and many people wish to keep it that way. Cllr Allen had been in touch with the council to discuss suitable alternative location but claims they didn't listen to his suggestions. 

He rejects behaving in a threatening or aggressive way: "No children were in the field and only one photograph was taken by me of the spades and other planting equipment as evidence for future legal action if EDDC tries again to ruin a very precious space.

"I suppose two old fellas and a dog might feel intimidation to Cllr Bonetta, but really it was a storm in a teacup blown out of proportion in an election year to discredit someone who has served the community for over a decade."