The squabble over a play park that has been consuming the minds of villagers for more than two years could finally be over.

To chants of “pay the bill, pay the bill; pay the bill” from members of the public, followed by a round of applause, Kingswear parish councillors voted to pay the contractor who built the play area in Jubilee Park the final 10 per cent of its cost.

More than 30 villagers packed the parish council meeting, most determined to show their support for the Cllr Mike Trevorrow, who was formally reprimanded and told to apologise at a recent standards committee meeting at South Hams District Council, over his conduct during the long-running battle over the play park.

Wendy Ryan said: “Many residents of Kingswear wish to record their support for and confidence in Mike Trevorrow, a democratically elected councillor.

“Many residents believe him to be a fair and capable person who has fully represented residents in the best interests of the parish.

“We will, over the next four weeks, request residents to send emails of support to the parish council and the monitoring officer at SHDC.”

Parish council chairman Cllr Jan Henshall told the meeting: “The code of conduct complaint process was an entirely independent legal process.

“Cllr Trevorrow was found to be in breach of process. We have the findings and documents and can release them to anyone who wants to see them.

“It’s done, it’s finished. We at Kingswear Parish Council have no authority in any way.  

“For residents who ask whether everyone was interviewed, I wasn’t interviewed, so at least one of us wan’t interviewed. So, until such time as we hopefully see Cllr Trevorrow’s apology, if he felt so prepared, there’s nothing further this council has to say, Cllr Trevorrow?”

There followed an exchange between Cllrs Henshall and Trevorrow before he read a statement to the council.

He said: “Resulting from the happenings of September 2015, the petition against councillors, an angry and potentially unruly meeting where the petition was read out, I was accused of colluding with the compilers of the petition.

“Even though, I have repeatedly denied any involvement in this petition, or its delivery at the meeting, my word has been doubted, although the accusers have not one shred of proof of their insinuations.

“I do have proof of where I was and what I was doing prior to the unfortunate evening, I was caring for very sick and very elderly relatives in North Wales, almost 300 miles away.

“In the meeting in question, there was a great deal of aggression and shouting which, as a very new temporary chairman, I had to control. It was a threatening and unpleasant experience for me and the new parish clerk who was attending his first meeting.

“It became necessary to threaten to stop the meeting and reconvene when tempers had cooled. After this, things calmed down sufficiently to continue and finish the meeting.

“Unfortunately, in a complaint made against me, I have been asked to apologise for things which I had nothing to do with, and since I am not believed when I am telling the truth I do not propose to apologise, except to the council for allowing an item to be considered at the wrong point in the agenda. Hardly a hanging offence I think.

“We are now almost two years on from these events, it is seriously time to leave them behind us and not to waste any more parish council time and energy, and to get on with the business of helping the parish to function.

“Finally, I would point out that this complaint has cost our community thousand of pounds in time spent by officers in its investigation and has achieved precisely nothing. I believe not value for money is the technical term. That is all.”

Cllr Lynne Maurer summarised her view in relation to 10 per cent retained by the council from the supplier of the play equipment: “Caledonia have done what we asked them to do. We cannot move the goalposts now and say “we’re not going to pay you because actually we wanted you to do something else.””

Cllrs Jonathan Hawkins, Edward Jones and Trevorrow supported and it was proposed settle the account, with members of the public chanting “pay the bill, pay the bill, pay the bill”.

On a vote of seven to three, the council resolved to pay the contractor, to which, “hurray!” was heard from the residents, followed by almost unanimous applause.

The ramifications of the disagreement in the council over the playground have now included the resignation of the parish clerk, David Edwards.

With his resignation, he has written a report to the parish council which includes his observations over the past 12 months. He said: “The situation with the play equipment is a result of poor management and the council not following the correct procedures. The outcome is that if you do not follow the right direction at the beginning of the process, difficulties will arise.”

Mr Edwards will leave once a suitable replacement has been found.

And villagers remain divided.

Colin Lange, landlord the Ship Inn Kingswear, wrote a letter to the Chronicle in support of Cllr Trevorrow. He said: “I read with total disbelief and dismay your article regarding the formal reprimand by South Hams District Imbeciles on Kingswear Cllr Mike Trevorrow.

“The total waste of ratepayers’ money on something so idiotic is probably, sadly endemic of the loonies at Follaton House who would rather spend time and money on this stupidity than how can they help the area.

“Did anyone from Follaton bother to ask any of the residents of Kingswear, a large number of whom attended most of the so-called meetings where this heinous crime was supposed to have taken place?

“The three councillors, at the heart of the matter, blatantly took no notice of the wishes of the majority of the village and, for reasons which I cannot possibly understand, decided to cause two years of divisiveness and almost destroy the good relations between the Village council and the villagers.

“I signed the petition and make no apology for doing so in fact.

“The final arrogance of the existing chairperson was using her casting vote to secure the position against a more popular candidate.”

But Dr Richard Rawlins, who recently wrote a letter to the Chronicle, suggested that Cllr Trevorrow should assist in clearing up past allegations.