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11/12/25 3:00 pm
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Tenant group Acorn has had complaints of Norwich councillors being “disrespectful and hostile” towards its members dismissed.
The Norwich branch has been locked in a feud with Labour councillors for months and made allegations against leader Mike Stonard, and cabinet members Carli Harper and Beth Jones, about their behaviour at recent meetings, reports Eastern Daily Press.
It included claims the trio were “visibly hostile” towards Acorn activists and were caught “smirking” when they attempted to speak and ask questions at meetings held in September.
However, Acorn’s members have also been accused of harassing and intimidating councillors themselves through their tactics, a claim Acorn has denied.
An internal review by an independent panel has now ruled there were no breaches of the council’s code of conduct while it found no evidence of any gestures or comments that would be in breach of the council’s rules.
“The city council investigated itself and found it has done nothing wrong - what a shocker,” says Toby Sedgewick, Acorn’s Norwich branch organiser. “We know that every day Mike Stonard and this Labour administration fail to tackle rogue landlords. They are failing the 27% of our city who privately rent. Despite their attempts to silence us, we won’t stop fighting for renters in our city.”
Labour councillors insist they have acted appropriately and would be willing to engage if Acorn members change their behaviour.
Councillor Harper (pictured) told the newspaper: “It is not all Acorn members. We are talking about the leadership which has chosen to employ tactics that are deplorable. We are not going to engage with people who advocate harassment and intimidating women.”
She reports incidents that include Acorn members wearing masks surrounding her at a meeting and shouting over her. Another incident led to Councillor Jones being bombarded with 150 phone calls in one day.
Campaigns by Norwich’s Acorn branch include demanding City Hall introduce a new scheme that will impose tougher rules on landlords.
Photo: Acorn
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