The leader of the Borough Council was booed out of his own chamber this evening as a cabinet meeting descended into chaos.

Moments later, Borough Chief Executive Kim Webber summoned the Police whose attendance saw the fractious meeting – attended by over 150 folk – restart as Ian Moran took his seat again.

Then, buoyed on by the disorder, one heckler shouted: “What do you think of it so far? Rubbish!” as the cabinet meeting - where members were being asked to approve the start of the Local Plan consultation (https://www.qlocal.co.uk/ormskirk/new...w-55033092.htm) - reconvened for another ten minutes.

Signs that this was to be no ordinary cabinet meeting came at 6.45 when folk from Bickerstaffe, Lathom and Aughton were queuing to get into the council chamber. They were met by Our West Lancashire’s Adrian Owens with OWL pamphlets – he was later accused by one angry Labour councillor of ‘peddling half truths’ and being akin to a rabble rouser.

But many folk were adamant that news of the local plan released last week was like a bombshell for many rural communities with no prior warning of its implications - even though Director of Planning and Regeneration John Harrison tried to explain that the proposals were not a fait accompli and that any new local plan had, in effect, to start somewhere.

And the reaction from tonight’s cabinet meeting does not bode well for a safe passage of the proposals with many deeply suspicious of its implications in the more rural areas of west Lancashire; Pat Heyes of Rose Farm, Bickerstaffe accused councillors of 'ripping the heart out of the farming community' and others are convinced the new local plan could ‘sell out’ west Lancashire to meet Merseyside’s growing housing demands.

After the meeting folk were amazed to see the police response with five police vehicles parked at the Borough Council offices, cue classic quotation from one lady who observed: "We were burgled a few months ago, couldn't get an officer and no one was arrested yet a fat man with no tie calls for the police and five of them turn up."

What a pity Councillors don’t have to pass an aptitude test before they are allowed to stand! Far to many, far to expense, far to inept! Just take a walk around our town and ask yourself why do I keep on voting for these parties! You gets what you vote for!