THE undersigned wish to try to bring to a conclusion the question of the sacking of our last town clerk, Richard Chapman.

The public has now been able to read the full transcript of the judgement of the employment tribunal in the matter, carried out by Judge Cocks.

In coming to the conclusion that Richard Chapman had been unfairly dismissed, we can only echo the view of the judge that "rarely had she come across a case where the unfairness was so evident".

The incompetence of the council together with the mayor, Councillor Julian Roskams, is breathtaking.

Any competent manager should have settled this matter informally in a couple of days.

It is apparent that the mayor is unable to restrain some councillors and is prepared to hide behind endless committees rather than to take a sensible decision himself in dealing with the complaints of junior members of his staff.

We believe that all councillors responsible for this appalling affair must consider their future on the council.

We have asked for the full details of the costs to the taxpayer of this whole sorry story, but this has not yet been forthcoming.

So far the mayor has tried to brush away the costs of the affair as around £60,000, which only covers the award to Mr Chapman: this excludes the costs of employing an independent investigator, temporary staff during Mr Chapman’s enforced six months suspension, legal advice (which they did not follow), the counsel and two solicitors for the duration of the four days of the final tribunal and the council’s half share in the costs of the tribunal.

K Phillips, M Selby, M Sneath, R Madden, A Macmillan, Mrs F Johnson

Malvern