An “extraordinary meeting” at Croxley Green Parish Council was cut short last night, following a heated exchange of words between councillors and members of the public.

Councillor Robert Ridley called the meeting to bring himself and other newly elected representatives “up to speed” on the council's activity over the past ten years.

The items included a report of all outstanding projects since 2006, a breakdown of all services and annual costs from the district council since 2000, and all grants given out in the past six years.

However, not one of the 39 miscellaneous items brought up by councillor Ridley, a man who was previously banned from contacting the council, was discussed at last night's meeting.

Councillor Leighton Dann suggested that to investigate each of the 39 agenda items would take 296 hours and cost nearly £6,000.

Before being elected to an unopposed seat, councillor Ridley was banned from contacting any of the councillors or visiting the offices, under the council's “Persistent and Vexatious Complainant Policy.”

Chairman Nik Bennett said that even after the ban, the clerk was still receiving “five or six” email messages a day from councillor Ridley.

Former councillor, Mark Saxon, of Franklin Road, said: “We should consign this agenda to the bin of vexatiousness.

“I am disappointed but not surprised, it appears councillor Ridley now wished to continue his vitriolic campaign, but this is not what we want from a councillor.

“Stop wasting your fellow councillors' time, stop living in the past and stop acting like a spoiled child.”

Conversely John Batkin, resident, said he thought councillor Ridley would be “a breath of fresh air” to the council, and complained about having never had a acceptable response from the clerk.

Councillor Hazel Seeley said: “Some of these items are ridiculous, a few are reasonable but who wants to go back to the year 2000? I certainly don't.”

Councillor Ridley said: “The welcome pack was lacking lots of information which old councillors are aware of and new councillors are not, such as the contracts for the community centre and with Flowers for Croxley.”

Chairman Nik Bennett said: “New councillors have had a lot of material to digest, the items you have raised do not tell us what you plan to do.

“How can we prepare for a meeting when it just says “discuss”, discuss what? This is not a talking shop, you must have a resolution with what you want to do, what you want the council to do and how you want us to support you.

“You good points get lost in the bad, we have structures in place in the council so these things can be brought up.”

Councillors then voted to break up the list and discuss each item within the relevant committee meeting.