A MEETING of Overton Parish Council descended into an acrimonious and noisy confrontation last week.

At one point the chairman, Cllr Sue Johnson, demanded a retraction from another councillor over an e-mail which she said cast 'aspersions' on her character.

The furore started when a member of the public, Mr Paul Robinson, asked why a submission by Cllr Ian Tilbury about the new village hall had been inserted in some News and Views copies this month and not in others.

Mr Tilbury, who is also a borough councillor, has been an outspoken critic of proposals for the new village hall on Overton Hill.

He argues that the new hall will have a 'negative impact' on the rest of the village. But the row rumbled on for over an hour when Mr Robinson asked his question.

The plan had been for both sides of the argument to have a leaflet inserted in News and Views. But vice-chairman, Cllr Lucy Sloane Williams, decided that she was not going to be able to complete her submission in favour of the new hall in time for the deadline. Mrs Laura Harley, clerk to the council, told the meeting she thought the leaflet presented by Mr Tilbury would 'compromise the integrity of the parish council'.

A decision was taken not to include it in the news sheet for that reason but it still turned up in some editions and not others.

Mr Robinson said: "I want to know why some people got it and some did not. All I'm asking for is some honesty, if someone decided to remove the inserts."

Mrs Sloane Williams said it was due to a failure of communication - but a number of people in the hall were not happy with that answer.

The row flared up again during the evening but came to a head when Dr Johnson called on Mr Tilbury to retract comments he had made about her in an e-mail sent to 14 people. She objected to one section of the e-mail in particular concerning the News and Views insert.

"This casts aspersions on my character and unless I get a retraction from you in writing I will take it further," she said.

But Mr Tilbury stuck to his guns and said: "Well take it further because that's my recollection of what was said."