Calne Town Councillors have clashed over a proposal to introduce an additional gender-neutral option to the town council’s honours policy.
The proposal, put forward by Cllr Aitch King, would allow an alternative to the existing titles of Honorary Freeman and Honorary Freewoman for those who do not wish to use a gendered title.
The titles are civic honours awarded by the council to recognise people who have made an exceptional contribution to Calne.
The suggestion was discussed at a recent meeting of Calne Town Council, with councillors agreeing to recommend to Full Council that the revised honours policy use inclusive, gender-neutral terminology, such as “Person of Distinction” or “Honorary Citizen”.
The recommendation is subject to confirmation that the wording is consistent with the Local Government Act.
Conservative Cllr Bobby Seymour has criticised the proposal and questioned whether such a change would be lawful.
Referring to Section 249 of the Local Government Act 1972, Cllr Seymour said councils may only confer the titles “Honorary Freeman and Honorary Freewoman”.
He also criticised the council for focusing on the issue, arguing that councillors should instead concentrate on matters affecting residents in their daily lives.
Cllr Seymour said: “The extreme left has shown that its priorities are to impose its own gender obsessed ideology and waste money and time, with something that has already prohibited, rather than dealing with the real problems of Calne residents.
“After the Supreme Court ruling, declaring there were only two sexes, you’d think that would have given it a rest by now.
“Sadly, the common sense that people are either male or female still appears to be controversial in the Liberal Democrats. It’s about time they stopped trying to eliminate single sex spaces which protect women and girls and erasing our own local history.
“Earlier this year the Calne Liberal Democrats had the opportunity to repair our parks. Instead, they have been too busy chatting about cancelling traditions with this bizarre obsession that human beings can be anything other than male or female. It’s just not what Town Councillors are there to do and I suspect most people think it’s utterly crackers.”
Cllr King said the proposal was not intended to remove or replace the existing titles of Honorary Freeman and Honorary Freewoman.
Instead, they said they were proposing an additional title which could be used by people who did not wish to use a gendered title.
“I was instead proposing that we add an additional title so that a non-gendered version be available for use by those who want to,” they said.
“I was in no way suggesting that the non-gendered title be the only title.”
Cllr King also said there had been no disagreement over the proposal at the meeting, with Cllr Seymour raising a question about the legal position.
“This was unanimously approved by all in attendance who could vote and will be going up for discussion at Full Council,” they said.
The proposed wording will now be subject to advice from officers on its consistency with the Local Government Act before being considered by Full Council.
The council also agreed that applications for honours should include an initial review stage by the Director of Council Services.
Want to know what’s on in Calne? Visit our local events page for listings and to find out how to add your own events for free. Follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok to keep up with all the latest news. Have you got a story for us? Email
