Petition calls for councillor's dismissal after caravan 'parked outside neighbour's front door'

It has gathered more than 1,000 signatures

A petition has been launched calling for an Ashfield councillor to be dismissed following a "long-standing" neighbour dispute in which the police have been called "on several occasions".

The petition, with more than 1,000 signatures, is calling for Councillor Tom Hollis, who represents Huthwaite and Brierley, to be sacked.

Mr Hollis denies the allegations.

It follows social media posts after Mr Hollis allegedly parking a caravan directly in front of a neighbour's front door on Windmill Close, Sutton-in-Ashfield.

This was said to be a small part in the long-standing dispute, in which both sides have phoned the police on numerous occasions.

The petition states: "[Councillor Hollis'] behaviour towards the constituents of Ashfield is clearly unacceptable. Both recent incidents have had to involve the police.

"This is totally unacceptable behaviour and we the residents of Ashfield call for his instant dismissal."

Neighbour Shannon Jones-Golding, 27, told Nottinghamshire Live the dispute started after the family reported Mr Hollis for allegedly "breaching social distancing" in his garden.

She adds that the caravan was placed "right outside my front door" on Friday, May 22, making it difficult for her family to leave their home.

"It made it really difficult for my family to get out of the house, and there was a big fire safety risk", the nurse said.

"We have lived next door to Tom for five years and we were good neighbours.

"It all started with something that could have been easily resolved, but because of his position in the council we felt we needed to put it on social media."

Mrs Jones-Golding says she had no involvement with the petition.

Mr Hollis has denied all claims in a statement, saying social media posts and the petition have set out to "defame" him, that the caravan was there for less than 13 hours and that there are "always two sides to every story".

"[On Friday] evening I took delivery of a caravan, for a family member, who could not store it until the morning", he said.

"[Saturday] morning it was taken away after less than 13 hours on my own private drive.

"The turn was very tight so it had to be pushed to almost the edge of my property. Just to reiterate, it was always entirely on my property and access was always maintained open for my neighbours to cross my land to access their home.

"There has been a long-standing neighbour dispute and they have sought to use this issue to defame me further, simply because they do not like my politics.

"While I agree and apologise that they have been inconvenienced by not having full access to my land overnight, this issue has been blown out of all proportion as part of the ongoing dispute.

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"Needless to say, there is always two sides to every story and things are very, very rarely as simple as they are portrayed on social media. Especially when sadly people have an axe to grind."

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Police confirmed the force has been called out to Windmill Close twice in response to the dispute.

The police said: "Officers attended an incident in Windmill Close, Sutton-in-Ashfield, at around 6pm on Saturday, May 16 after a call from a member of the public.

"A further incident in the same street was reported to Nottinghamshire Police at 8pm on Friday, May 22.

"Officers attended the following day. No arrests were made and our enquiries are ongoing."