AN EAST Riding councillor says he is "embarrassed" after many of his colleagues snubbed a meeting with senior police chiefs.
The event was arranged by the police to rebuild relations with the council after a war of words between the two sides.
In October, the council took the unprecedented step of writing to the Government's committee on standards in public life to complain about the way Humberside Police had consulted over its plans to cut £31m from its budget and redesign the force's operational structure.
Senior councillors also criticised the force in a series of scrutiny, cabinet and full council meetings.
Following the outcry, the police invited all 64 East Riding councillors to a morning-long briefing on the issue at Bishop Burton College.
In a letter sent to the council chief executive Nigel Pearson beforehand, Deputy Chief Constable David Griffin said he hoped the meeting would "mark a watershed to re-establish the historically good relations we have enjoyed".
However, only nine councillors turned up and two left before the end of the session.
Councillor Nick Evans, who did attend, said: "I was surprised, disappointed and quite embarrassed by the turnout after all the fire and fury from certain councillors in the weeks beforehand.
"There were actually more police officers there than councillors.
"Chief Constable Justine Curran was present with her senior team, but you could count the number of councillors on two hands.
"It must have cost the police a fair amount of money to put on an event like that and, to their credit, they gave up their time to meet us and delivered a very comprehensive presentation.
"However, they probably wondered why they had bothered with just a handful of councillors actually bothering to turn up."
Cllr Evans said the existence of Mr Griffin's letter to the council, which also challenged some of the earlier criticisms of the force, only emerged during the police briefing at Bishop Burton.
"None of us there knew anything about the letter and it came as a bit of a shock," he said.
"As councillors, I think we were entitled to be sent copies as soon as the letter arrived at the council but we weren't."
He said he remained convinced much of the criticism directed at the force had been politically motivated as a result of long-standing hostility from some members of the ruling Conservative group towards Humberside police and crime commissioner Matthew Grove and his deputy Paul Robinson. Both were East Riding Tory councillors before taking on their current roles.
Cllr Evans said: "I personally feel that vindictiveness against the commissioner and his deputy possibly lies at the heart of this matter and this is having a negative effect on the whole process."
Deputy police chief: Council stance 'disappointing'IN HIS letter to East Riding Council, Deputy Chief Constable David Griffin said he was dismayed by criticism of the force by councillors over its restructuring proposals.
He said: "I have to say, as deputy chief constable of Humberside for approaching ten years, it is exceptionally disappointing to find relations between our organisations at a strategic level appear to be under significant strain and, in my opinion, unnecessarily so.
"I think your decision to write a letter to the parliamentary committee for standards in public life that is highly critical of the force's engagement with the council is not at all constructive and represents a low ebb.
"I am perplexed as how this approach can benefit communities we jointly serve."
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