A COUNCIL leader has been ordered to apologise to a campaign group chairman after calling him a “silly little man” in an email.

After two meetings costing the taxpayer around £400, Gravesham Council’s standards committee has ordered leader Councillor Mike Snelling to write a letter of apology to Urban Gravesham chairman Jonathan Clay.

This follows former Labour councillor Mr Clay complaining to the committee in July last year after Conservative Cllr Snelling sent him an email in which he called him a “silly little man”.

Cllr Snelling says he sent the email after Mr Clay and Urban Gravesham, which opposes council-backed plans for a £120m town centre makeover, put up posters insulting him.

Urban Gravesham ran a stall at the Big Day Out fun day in Gravesend town centre on July 4 and displayed posters showing Cllr Snelling as a builder about to destroy St Andrew’s Gardens.

Cllr Snelling said: “The email was concerning the incident that took place at last year’s Big Day Out when Urban Gravesham used a stall to insult me by putting up posters saying I was Bob the Builder.

“I emailed him and called him a silly little man. I was reflecting on his conduct at the Big Day Out.”

Following Mr Clay’s complaint, a sub-committee of the standards committee held a meeting on October 16 at which they decided to take no action against Cllr Snelling.

However, Mr Clay appealed, so the sub-committee met again on December 21 and decided Cllr Snelling should apologise.

Cllr Snelling says holding these two meetings cost the taxpayer around £400, which he says is a waste of money.

He said: “Obviously I will comply with the decision of the standards committee and will write to him formally to apologise.

“But I have to question a system which allows a lot of public cash to be spent on a trivial issue such as this.

“I have to question Mr Clay’s judgment for pursuing the matter to such an extent because of a bruised ego.”

Mr Clay is a barrister specialising in planning cases and was a Gravesham councillor from 1995 to 2003, serving as cabinet member for regeneration from 1999 to 2003.

He says he was corresponding with a council officer over the Big Day Out stall when Cllr Snelling involved himself and sent the insulting email.

Mr Clay said: “He obviously does not think he has done the slightest thing wrong, but I am a member of the public, so he should not be calling me a silly little man.

“As for the meetings into the complaint being a waste of money, he could have prevented those meetings simply by apologising to me when I first complained.”

Mr Clay co-founded Urban Gravesham in January 2007 after the council and developer Edinburgh House announced plans for the redevelopment of the Heritage Quarter.

Public consultation on the planning application ends on Friday (Feb 19), and the council’s independent regulatory board is expected to decide on the plans next month.