A MEETING about the future of a sports and recreation club has divided a community and led to a call for a vote of no confidence in a parish council.

The long running row between the Marske Sports and Recreation Association (MSRA) and the Saltburn, Marske and New Marske Parish Council over the running of the sports club came to a head at a special meeting.

Almost 100 residents packed out the hall at the White House in Marske to find out how relationship between the MSRA and the parish broke down, resulting in the voluntary dissolution of the sports association.

Campaigners from the MSRA clashed with the council over the running of the bar on the site at Mount Pleasant Drive in Marske amid claims it was running as a business and opening outside agreed times.

The meeting was called to deal with accusations from association that the parish council had refused to recognise a 1,000 name petition and failed to negotiate or mediate with them over the dispute.

Vice chairman of the parish council John Lambert denied the claims saying the petition was received after the members of MSRA had already dissolved the association.

He said: “The petition was received and signed for by the clerk of the council and a receipt was given to the person who handed it in on July 14. Prior to the petition being handed it, we received an email from our solicitor informing us of the decision to dissolve the MSRA, so we could not take any action about the petition.”

Ged Burns, who was the chairman of MSRA when it was dissolved, argued that the council had not taken the opportunity to work with the group to resolve their differences.

And David Jones, who was a member of the association, said: “We didn’t want to dissolve the group, we wanted to keep it open. There is a petition with 1,000 signatures who all wanted to keep it open.”

Following an hour-long feisty debate, (CORR) Queda Hutton called for a vote of no confidence in the council, which was defeated by 48 to 39 votes.

After losing that count she called for a Parish Poll to decide whether the residents had confidence in the council.

Miss Hutton secured ten people to support her appeal for the poll, which would have involved all residents being able to vote on a single question, but again the proposal was defeated by people at the meeting with the vote going 53 – 38 against her plan.