Top Tory Timothy's "chain gang" shame (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Top Tory Timothy's "chain gang" shame

THIS man lives in an historic mansion, has several cars and is the chairman of Cotswold District Council.

Yet he wanted you, the taxpayer, to pay for convicted criminals to maintain his private land.

The news was revealed at a meeting of Moreton-in-Marsh Town Council last week, by CDC vice-chairman Cllr Ben Jeffrey, who is involved with the supervision of community service workers in Moreton-in-Marsh.

Explaining to the council why they hadn't been seen around the town recently, Cllr Jeffrey, who is the town council parks committee chairman, said: "For the last five weeks, they have been working in the chairman of the district council's garden."

The announcement was met with amazement from fellow town and district councillor Rod Hooper, who said: "How can he not afford it?"

But speaking to the Standard after the meeting, Cllr Jeffrey said he actually meant that the workers had not been under his supervision for five weeks and he was uncertain exactly how much time they had spent at Cllr Royle's house - Icomb Place, near Stow-on-the-Wold.

Gloucestershire Probation Service later confirmed a team visited the property, following a request from Cllr Royle.

Cllr Hooper commented: "It's wrong to get community service workers to do private work when the people concerned can afford to have the work done.

"I was flabbergasted when Ben Jeffrey mentioned it at the meeting." Gloucestershire's chief probation officer John Carter confirmed the service was told an arboretum in the grounds had special status, but the workers moved onto another project after just one day because supervisors felt it was unsuitable.

Mr Carter said: "We undertook one day's work but decided that the project wasn't what we wanted because the work of the offenders wasn't sufficiently visible or beneficial to the community.

"We have, in the past and currently, undertaken a lot of work in the Moreton area using one of the councillors from the town council to help us locate projects.

"Projects have typically been village hall redecoration and other high visibility projects."

Grade One listed Icomb Place, with its sprawling, picturesque grounds, dates back to the 14th century.

The house itself is closed to the public, although Cllr Royle has previously used it for civic functions, attended by fellow councillors.

The grounds are part of the National Gardens Scheme, which encourages people to open their land to the public to raise money for charitable causes.

But, according to the NGS website, Icomb Place threw its gates open just once this year - on June 22 - with part of the proceeds going to Cllr Royle's nearby village hall in the affluent locality of Icomb.

Conservative Cllr Royle, who is also a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, says the arboretum is subject to a maintenance arrangement with the Forestry Commission.

And, although he admits the gardens aren't open all year round, he claims the arboretum section is viewed up to 15 times a year by groups who ask permission - although he declined to name any of those groups.

He believes the picturesque retreat provides a service to the community.

He said: "I have no difficulty in justifying what the Probation Service decided to do.

"The public can't just wander through here, it's by invitation. We do open it regularly for people to look at. Most of the time we don't charge at all.

"I was looking for some help clearing the dams in the arboretum. They (Probation Service) thought it was a great task for them."