A "YELLOW peril" document which has circulated Farnhill criticising the parish council has failed to rally support within the village.

New parish councillor Ian Fulton published the document, which accused the council of not keeping its electors informed, being reluctant to take on funding opportunities, and in need of modernisation.

But the tone of the missive - which stated that Coun Fulton would drag the members "kicking and screaming into the 21st century" - angered residents at the annual parish meeting.

John Hudson said: "I have lived in the village for 10 years and approached the parish council on a number of occasions. I don't recognise the parish council as described in the yellow papers.

"Coun Fulton's stated intention of kicking screaming councillors into action is an astonishing approach and rather insulting to existing parish councillors who have served us well.

"As an approach this is completely unacceptable. Certainly myself and a number of people wish absolutely to disassociate themselves from this."

Parish council chairman Gary McKinney said: "I completely refute the allegations and the inferences within this document. I am extremely disturbed by the vicious and aggressive language employed by Ian Fulton."

A number of letters were read out at the meeting in support of the parish council.

John and Sue Richardson wrote: "We are dismayed by the tone of this yellow peril publicity sheet. It is not a very promising start for Ian Fulton to go out of his way to antagonise a dedicated group of councillors."

In other letters Coun Fulton's comments were described as "scathing" and "very hurtful".

Coun Fulton defended his actions at the meeting, saying that he had received support within the village. He admitted that his opinions were "radical" and "outspoken" but felt this was necessary to prompt change.

One woman, who refused to be named, said: "As a resident of the village, I am quite happy to support some of Coun Fulton's proposals.

"There is a spectrum of opinion in the village. People might put things differently, and more strongly than others. We have to recognise when one person speaks sometimes forcibly there might be others that don't speak out.

"A lot of the suggestions would have been supported more if they had come in another format."

The yellow leaflet referred to a larger "mission statement". Within this document Coun Fulton outlined his desire for the council to be more involved with local initiatives, such as the parish plan and bids for funding.

He expressed disappointment over the lack of interest in the parish council elections - which resulted in all the councillors being returned unopposed.

He also submitted ideas for forming a playing area committee and for modernisation and training within the organisation.

Coun McKinney asked the residents for their suggestions to improve the parish council, in particular the way it communicated with the village, and both he and Coun Fulton agreed that the way forward was to work together on what the community wanted.

Residents asked for the minutes and agenda for the meetings to be made available on the internet or on a regular newsletter. They asked the parish council to leaflet every household making people aware of the next round of elections in three years' time.

After the meeting Coun Fulton said that he felt there was more support in the village than had been expressed in public.

He said that the parish council had subsequently chosen to call an annual general meeting yesterday (Thursday), giving the public only three days notice of the event.

Coun Fulton has published another leaflet, informing electors of the meeting, and circulated it around the village.