Battling Colnbrook parish councillors finally have a budget for the forthcoming year - but only after a fractious two hour meeting that saw six members refuse to vote.

The battleground had been drawn up before the Zoom meeting even began on Tuesday - earlier attempts to set a budget three weeks ago having floundered.

Once again Cllr Dexter Smith tried to get councillors to debate his motion that they should not charge a parish precept this year.

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He said: "It is the least we can do. This will give our residents a holiday. We do not need the money, they do. People are suffering hardship at the moment."

But chairman of the Finance and Policy Committee Cllr Andrea Escott said the motion could not be debated as it had not been submitted in writing in advance.

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Six members who supported Cllr Smith protested by refusing to vote on the budget - pressing for an adjournment for more discussions.

Chairman Cllr Naveed Rana accepted Cllr Escott's advice that refusing to vote meant they were not part of the 'quorum' making up the meeting, allowing the votes of the five who accepted the budget to stand alone.

A long argument followed over whether a separate vote over Cllr Smith's call for a 'zero' precept could be voted on or not - as councillors interrupted each other constantly, while the protocol of being invited to speak by the chairman was forgotten and Zoom meeting hosts tried frantically to mute them.

Cllr Escott said: "If there is no precept the budget falls down even though we have just voted it through. It does not make sense."

She warned this would put the council outside the law and make it impossible to do simple things like insure the recreation ground.

In the end the chairman ruled that a vote on Cllr Smith's barred motion could not go ahead.

Angry Cllr Puja Bedi said: "In the past the precept has always been voted on separately. It is a sad day when we as councillors are not allowed to do something that favours our residents."