The leader of a parish council which has received a vote of no confidence from 180 residents of a picturesque North York Moors village has called for the community to draw a line in the sand and work with its elected members.

Thornton le Dale Parish Council chair Councillor Marguerite Markham has issued a lengthy statement following what she described as “inflammatory and derogatory” claims being published.

The statement comes weeks after North Yorkshire Council conducted an extraordinary poll in the village over the question “Do you want the parish council to be dissolved and a new one elected?”

The poll, which was non-binding on the parish council, saw 16 per cent of the 1,545 electorate voting, with 180 people voting in favour of dissolving the council and 64 people opposing the move.

Thornton-le-Dale in the North York Moors

Ahead of the parish council considering the results of the poll on Tuesday, (July 18), Coun Markham said some of the seven democratically elected parish councillors’ health had been affected by the row.

She stated: “I ask as chair that the Thornton le Dale community works with the council, not against it, and allows the council, via its democratically elected members to get business done.

“I would like it to be a watershed moment where from this point in time, the difficulties that have been experienced are put in the past and Thornton le Dale Parish Council can be left to serve the community, via the councillors, put in place by the people of the parish in 2022.”

While other residents have dismissed reports that some villagers have worn paper bags over their heads to disguise themselves during parish council meetings, Coun Markham’s statement focuses on financial issues facing the local authority.

She highlighted how the parish council had taken on responsibility for street lights in 2018, but was still to receive an invoice for the power from their electricity supplier, despte numerous requests.

Coun Markham added after being elected in May last year the new parish council had inherited a budget with a £34,000 overspend for which it did not have uncommitted funds to cover, while the local authority’s budgets for the two previous years had also been in deficit.

She added the parish council’s previous chair, Councillor Sandra Bell, who has said following the poll result that the parish councillors should all resign, had proposed reducing grass cutting to help lower the deficit, but this had been “met by backlash on social media, and press articles”.

The statement added filming of a parish council meeting “had been performed in a manner to intimidate and harass; zooming in on one councillor to cause embarrassment”, before being edited in a “concerning” way and put on Youtube.

She said: “Councillors give their time freely to serve the community and do not deserve to be treated in this way. I am concerned and saddened to report that the current situation is affecting the health of some councillors and that is not right.”

Coun Markham said an independent audit this year had noted the financial controls of the council could be improved.

Vote of no confidence in parish council of picturesque Yorkshire village Thornton-le-Dale is called by 180 residents - after row over 'paper bag disguises'