TWO NEWLYN harbour commissioners controversially sacked and then re-appointed were axed again yesterday.
John Lambourn and Nick Howell were originally ousted from the Newlyn Harbour Commission following a disputed secret ballot on May 31, along with a third commissioner, Juliet Taylor.
Unlike Ms Taylor, whose term expired, the two commissioners were later reinstated.
However, following a vote from board members at the port authority's first meeting for three months, both were removed from their posts for a breach of Article 11 of the Harbour Revision Order.
Speaking after the meeting, both former commissioners refuted the reasons and said they were disappointed by the board's decision.
Mr Lambourn reiterated a call for the Department for Transport (DfT) to get involved in the running of the commission.
He said: "The DfT has got to deal with our complaints and the response our complaints have received from the commission.
"We should be telling them what the result of today's decision was and now they must have a look at the situation and take the appropriate action.
"This hasn't really taken the situation in Newlyn forward but rather retrograded it back to what it was.
"We in Newlyn want a way forward and it doesn't look very rosy; we want vision, we want leadership, we want all stakeholders to be engaged and inspired."
Mr Howell added: "We are no longer commissioners so we are free from the constraints of being commissioners.
"We can cast a critical eye on what they do and how they do it; both of us are quite miffed as to why they asked us to leave so they are presumably going to change tack."
In a statement to the press after the meeting, chairman Gilbert McCabe said: "It is with regret that we have had to take this action to remove two of our commissioners.
"The reason for this decision was a continuing lack of cohesion and unity within the board and its inability to work together effectively for the benefit of the harbour and its stakeholders."
The board appointed a new vice-chairman, Glenn Caplin, to replace member, Ray Tovey, who stepped down from the position in June.
They also re-appointed two commissioners whose terms had expired along with two other commissioners on May 30, before the now-rescinded secret ballot took place.
Kevin Bennetts and Elizabeth Stevenson will now sit on a new three-year term until May 30, 2014.
The two former members, whose terms also expired on May 30, were Dave Munday, who later resigned, and Juliet Taylor, who did not stand for reappointment.
Speaking after the meeting, Ms Taylor said: "After the advice I have had from the DfT I am waiting to see what happens in the longer term before I stand for reappointment."
Fiona Thomas-Lambourn, a member of the commission's advisory board, spoke of the need for the commission to find a way forward.
"The commission is now embroiled in a controversy which has severely damaged its reputation," she said.
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN