A TOWN mayor accused of misusing council funds won a vote of no confidence – but only after she swung a tied vote in her favour.

Worries that councillor Lynn Little, who has served as Carterton’s Town Mayor for five years, misappropriated funds from a council bank account have been reported to the police.

At a tense meeting on Tuesday, the vote of confidence was tied with seven members in favour of Mrs Little continuing in her post and seven members against. Mrs Little then used her casting vote in her favour.

By normal convention, the subject of a vote of no confidence would not take part in a discussion into their conduct and subsequent vote.

But Mrs Little’s actions are allowed as part of the Local Government Act 1972.

Mrs Little also used her casting vote to install herself as mayor for a fifth year in May after a vote against her deputy Nick Leverton resulted in another tie.

A person who attended the meeting on Tuesday, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “(Mrs Little) is a person who has rode roughshod over process, who thinks that they are above question and reproach.

“I wish it was not the case.”

Concerns raised in an audit of the mayor’s allowance account include a £4,000 payment to ‘Ted Little’s Veterans’ Home’.

It is understood concerns over the mayor’s allowance account were passed on to Thames Valley Police by Carterton Town Council’s clerk Ron Spurs in November.

In an email sent by Mrs Little after the meeting on Wednesday and seen by the Oxford Mail, she claims she has been tried by a ‘kangaroo court’ and voluntarily went to the police a month ago with information.

She has always maintained she as done nothing wrong and it is councillors working with an agenda but said she would apologise if she is found to have acted improperly.

In the email she states: “I stand by my previous comments that if I had not adhered to the correct processes then I will stand corrected and apologise unreservedly.”

As previously reported, the tickets for the St George’s Day dinner – which should have cost £40 – were allegedly given for free to Mrs Little’s relatives, members of the RAF, representatives from two companies and the ‘wife of a local celebrity’.

Last month, Mrs Little denied this and said the only people to be given free entry were her own ‘personal VIP guests’, including Tim Jones, the station commander at RAF Brize Norton.

She added that while Ted Little’s Veterans’ Home is not registered with the Charity Commission, the council was aware of the project.

Mrs Little was unavailable for comment.