THE chair of Ivybridge Chamber of Commerce has issued a formal ­complaint against the town council following an alleged ‘personal attack’ on her.

Margaret Punchard said she was disgusted by the council’s unprofessionalism, which also led to her husband Graham Punchard resigning from the council.

However, the town council has emphasised that the views of one individual councillor are not those of the town council.

The council has since taken the advice of the district council ­monitoring officer and the complaint is now being investigated formally.

Mrs Punchard said friction between her and the council has been ongoing since a former district councillor criticised the town council for ‘failing to promote Ivybridge’.

However, Mrs Punchard said it took a turn for the worse when she contacted the town council following Devon County Council’s announcement that there would be cuts to its children’s services budget.

She said: ‘I emailed the town councillors about an issue in the town, but I had no replies.

‘I asked one councillor if they had received my email and they just laughed in my face and said it must be in their spam folder.

‘Another councillor approached me. I asked the same question and they replied, “You’re not important enough because you’re a woman – the town council has never taken women seriously”.

‘Now I know I’m the chair of the Chamber of Commerce, but it’s about the members, not me.

‘But, I’m not important? We’re the body who elected these councillors to be on the council, and this one says I’m not important enough because I’m a woman? It’s disgusting.

‘This councillor also said the town crier is “drab” – my town crier is brilliant.

‘When he found out about the comment I had to fight for him to stay. Fortunately he’s a good man – the people of the town love him.

‘The town council has nothing nice to say about anything it didn’t set up or be a part of.

‘My husband has now resigned – how can he sit there and be effective as a councillor when he hears ­comments like that?

‘I’ve taken it very personally – I’m disgusted with the town ­council.’

Ivybridge Town Council clerk Lesley Hughes said: ‘Mrs Punchard made a specific complaint about one councillor, which was sufficient for us to believe that it could have broken the Ivybridge code of conduct.

‘We have therefore taken the advice of the district council monitoring officer and this is now being formally investigated, so we can really add no more at this stage.

‘It has to be emphasised, though, that the views of one individual councillor are not those of the town council and we have clear processes for informing people of council ­decisions, including a media policy that has been fully debated and circulated to every councillor.

‘If, however, individual councillors do make statements that breach the code of conduct, which again has been circulated to all councillors, then we can only follow the due process, which we are doing.

‘I personally have never experienced any discrimination because of my being a woman from members of the town council, and as we support equal opportunities, I’d expect everyone associated with the town council to be signed up to that ­policy.

‘So if those comments have been made then it’s potentially another breach by one individual; again, the monitoring officer will be following this point up.

‘The town council has worked with the chamber of commerce over many years and we’ve had excellent representatives from this council attending the Chamber of Commerce meetings – former councillor Elizabeth Silsbury, followed by Cllr Steven Fourte.

‘I’ve asked the chairman, Mrs Punchard, if it would be helpful if I, too, attended future meetings to ensure that communication and updates are exchanged between our two organisations, thereby ensuring that the actions and corporate view of the town council are very clear.

‘The mayor had extended an ­invitation to the town crier and Mrs Punchard to attend our council meeting and I’m pleased to advise that they’ll be coming along on August 3.’