An Official Statement and Community Update from the Mayor of Oakham
By Mayor Martin Brookes
This not an Oakham Town Council Statement
May 19, 2026
Since my recent appointment as Mayor of Oakham, I have become aware of several negative, inaccurate statements and speculative questions being shared across social media platforms. I believe it is vital to address these matters openly, correct the misinformation, and share some important history regarding both my personal journey and our town council.
Twenty years ago, I moved to this charming market town. Generally, I found Oakham to be a welcoming place and thoroughly enjoyed making it my home. Around that time, I took up a hobby with a newly acquired digital camera, capturing photographs in and around town and sharing them on Flickr. It is a passion I continue to enjoy to this day, having shared almost 195,000 photos documenting our local area (which can be viewed at flickr.com/photos/martinbrookesoakham/).
While out enjoying my photography hobby years ago, I was approached by a member of the public who asked for me by name and suggested I look at a website called the Rutland Online Chat Forum. Upon visiting, I was shocked to find myself the subject of deeply malicious and nasty comments, which I will not repeat here. This targeted harassment continued for a considerable time.
The forum's membership was primarily comprised of Oakham Town Councillors, Rutland County Councillors, local dignitaries, and staff from both Rutland County Council (which initially ran the platform) and Melton Borough Council. The forum was eventually shut down entirely after our Member of Parliament at the time formally complained about its homophobic, racist, and anti-Semitic content.
Before its closure, I traced the users responsible for the toxic content. To my dismay, the vast majority were local representatives: 10 members of Oakham Town Council were actively involved a group I later publicly referred to as the "ten green bottles" alongside a small number of Rutland County Councillors.
Around this same period, I read a Standards for England report regarding Oakham Town Council. This was the final time the organisation carried out official inspections of town councils. The report explicitly concluded that Oakham Town Council was dysfunctional and not fit for purpose. Regrettably, very little has changed since 2009.
The issues plaguing the council are not new; it has experienced severe staffing difficulties for many years, including during extended periods when I was not involved with the council.
Currently, Oakham Town Council is experiencing serious staffing issues. While the council has omitted these details from public narratives, last week it published official minutes confirming that it is actively negotiating a financial pay-off for a member of staff.
Furthermore, due to these ongoing administrative and staffing complications, the council currently cannot access any of its bank accounts or accounting systems. As a direct result, the council cannot functionally operate until this matter is resolved. It is utterly appalling that a situation of this magnitude has been permitted to occur once again within local government.
My direct friction with these elements began in 2009 when I first joined the town council. I immediately began challenging the members responsible for their unacceptable conduct on the Rutland Online Chat Forum. In retaliation, those members began spreading malicious rumours and sending me highly inappropriate correspondence. Though many of these incidents were reported to Leicestershire Police, they were ignored.
In 2010, I launched my personal blog to expose this councillor misconduct. The catalyst occurred after I celebrated my birthday at an LGBTQ venue in Leicester and shared photos of the happy event on my private social media. That very week, I was summoned to a formal meeting by the Chairman of the council and another councillor. I was told that by visiting the venue and sharing the photographs, I had brought both my position and the council into disrepute. The Chairman specifically objected to a photo featuring a drag queen in the background, whom she incorrectly referred to as "trans."
Faced with this prejudice, I resolved to systematically remove the compromised councillors from the town council. Because the police showed no interest in pursuing past members, I took it upon myself to expose them. At times, I was disrespectful to those members; it is entirely true to say I was directly reacting to the intense, targeted hostility they directed at me.
As a result of these political clashes, I was reported multiple times for poor conduct and subsequently received a six-month disqualification, which was heavily covered by the Rutland Times. I appealed this decision in the High Court of Justice, where a judge overturned the disqualification. This High Court ruling addresses the ongoing social media queries regarding how I can legally serve as Mayor after being "banned." Unfortunately, because Oakham Town Council enjoyed a highly selective relationship with the Rutland Times at the time, the newspaper refused to report the legal outcome of my successful appeal a pattern of selective reporting I experienced from them for many years.
The opposing councillors went on to establish a retaliatory blog titled Laughing Stocks of Oakham, which launched deeply personal attacks against me and my friends.
By 2013, I found myself sitting before a court, falsely accused of harassing past and present town councillors. Conversely, one of those councillors had been arrested and placed on bail for a year, though the police ultimately chose not to take further action against them. During my trial in 2013, the presiding judge explicitly questioned the nature of the prosecution, found me not guilty of all charges, and formally described the actions of the Oakham Town Councillors involved as "homophobic, crude, and crass." Even within the courtroom, those councillors could not control their behaviour and were reprimanded multiple times by the judge. Once again, the Rutland Times chose not to report the full facts, dedicating vast space to my initial arrest and pending trial, but offering only a tiny article upon my absolute acquittal.
While matters marginally improved after the 2013 trial, certain councillors utilised third parties to sustain their harassment. Over the years, I have only ever secured one successful criminal prosecution: when former Councillor Maureen Dodds instructed a friend, Philip Quinton, to telephone me multiple times. He delivered deeply homophobic, intimidating threats, including a threat to my life. While the police refused to register it as a hate crime, he was formally convicted in court of malicious communications.
Other town councillors systematically interfered with my personal life, going so far as to spread abhorrent, false rumours labelling me a paedophile. As an individual who was tragically subjected to that exact form of abuse as a child at school and who eventually had to witness that former teacher plead guilty in a court of law I find these specific falsehoods incredibly painful and difficult to deal with.
Public questions have also been raised regarding the termination of my employment at Tesco. My exit from the company was directly fueled by the coordinated actions of three former Oakham Mayors. One explicitly informed me that as long as I remained critical of Oakham Town Council, they would personally ensure I never worked in Oakham again. The late former Mayor Joyce Lucas certainly succeeded in that ambition.
During my employment at Tesco, I worked to an incredibly high standard and constantly did my best for our local customers, earning both Bronze and Silver customer service awards accolades that were not easy to achieve. Despite this, a former mayor posted a defamatory public question on the Tesco Facebook page, asking: "Why are you employing this man who is a risk to women?" That same individual subsequently assaulted me physically inside the store. The incident was caught on CCTV and dealt with appropriately by a deputy manager. At the same time, physical posters repeating those identical Facebook comments were printed and posted surreptitiously around the store.
Furthermore, Councillor Joyce Lucas frequently visited the branch, openly telling staff members that she refused to use the checkout operated by a "paedophile" and demanding to know why Tesco employed me. I sent an email directly to Councillor Lucas demanding that she cease this harassment, leave me alone, and stop entering the store. In response, the checkout manager at the time, Matthew Smith, issued me a final written warning, claiming my email brought the Tesco brand into disrepute. Following this, the store manager hosted an unauthorised, unnotified meeting with the then-Mayor of Oakham, Adam Lowe, to discuss my private employment. When I discovered this had occurred, I filed a formal complaint. In response, Adam Lowe complained directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesco, claiming his "confidentiality" had been breached, which caused severe internal issues for the store manager.
The final incident occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Tesco enforced a strict "one person per trolley" policy. When two male customers objected to the rule, I politely suggested they each take a trolley. They took offense and lodged a formal complaint, claiming I had been homophobic toward them and had referred to them as "two old queens" a derogatory description I absolutely never would have used. On the back of this complaint, I was summarily dismissed.
What is "Summary Dismissal" and Does it Affect the Mayoralty?
Summary dismissal means termination of employment effective immediately without a notice period, usually due to an allegation misconduct. It is a private employment mechanism and has absolutely no legal or constitutional bearing on a person's eligibility to hold public office, serve as a councillor, or be appointed to the honorary position of Mayor.
Following the loss of my job, I experienced a period of peace with no further issues from past or present town councillors.
Nearly two years ago, I was approached by Councillor Paul Ainsley, who invited me to rejoin what he termed "a much improved Oakham Town Council." He was, unfortunately, entirely wrong in that assessment.
Since my appointment as Mayor, critics have suggested that continuing to operate my personal blog and the Oakham and Rutland News site constitutes a conflict of interest.
This is entirely incorrect. Operating a local news site or blog is not a conflict of interest under local government guidelines. It is incredibly common for local councillors and politicians across the country to engage in local journalism, write opinion columns, or manage community information platforms. Freedom of expression and the press are foundational rights, and keeping residents informed does not conflict with civic duty.
I must also address the public commentary being generated by John Kennedy within his social media group. Mr. Kennedy was elected onto Oakham Town Council a number of years ago, staying for only a single month before resigning. Upon his departure, he handed me a large cache of internal emails he had received from the then-Mayor, Adam Lowe. Some of these communications contained highly inappropriate content suggesting explicit sexual activity between myself, the police, and my friends. One of these emails was subsequently attached to the minutes of a formal vote of no confidence I brought against the Mayor; unsurprisingly, the council members voted to support the Mayor's poor conduct anyway.
While I was originally grateful to John for exposing that behaviour, he has inexplicably maintained a deep-seated dislike of me ever since. Currently, he utilises his platform to criticise my efforts to re-establish traditional charity fundraising at Oakham Town Council, while providing a digital platform for individuals I have never met to post derogatory comments.
I fully understand that some individuals will not like me, and they have an absolute right to express that opinion. I am one of the staunchest advocates for free speech you will find. However, it is never acceptable to resort to deeply offensive, defamatory, or personal abuse.
Fortunately, those voices represent a tiny minority. I have received an overwhelming volume of kind messages recently. Rather embarrassingly, I was stopped the other day by a group of local builders who congratulated me and requested selfies with their new Mayor. Similarly, while looking after a friend’s dog, my local walks have been taking much longer because residents consistently stop to chat. It serves as a wonderful reminder of what a lovely town Oakham truly is when you remove the toxic politics.
It is important for residents to understand the constitutional reality of local government. A Town Council Mayor functions strictly as the Chairman of full council meetings and acts as the ceremonial figurehead of the town. The Mayor possesses absolutely no more statutory power or executive authority than any other individual elected member of the council. Decisions are made collectively by a majority vote of the full council.
I am looking forward to my role as Mayor, though perhaps not as much to chairing the meetings themselves. Recently, a resident attending a meeting publicly noted that the childish conduct of some members vividly reminded her of being in a school classroom.
I want to make one final statement regarding recent social media activity. The comments left primarily on the Oakham Town Council Facebook page were deeply offensive, highly personal, and entirely unacceptable. I formally requested that only those comments be removed. The page administrators subsequently removed all commentary, leaving only the messages of congratulations, and disabled further commenting. This action was highlighted in a Rutland Times article, who then copied the approach by turning off comments on their own Facebook post.
"When I replied to the few people who asked why there was no choice, I suggested they might like to be co-opted onto the council. It is hoped that at least one new member will be co-opted at the June meeting, leaving three vacancies that need filling. It would be great to see all 12 of the seats full for the last year serving as a councillor. If you are interested please contact the council.
01572 723627
enquiries@oakhamtowncouncil.gov.uk
On a personal note, I currently take prescribed medication for a health issue. The side effects of this medication cause me to experience heightened stress and anxiety, which the recent influx of offensive online comments has significantly exacerbated. As a direct result of this distress, I recently felt forced to turn down an invitation to attend a local school's May Dance event and this morning I had planned to attend and film a planning appeal at Oakham Castle.
Despite this initial storm, I am entirely resolved to continue my duties as a councillor. I intend to do my absolute best to guide this broken council through the coming year. As things settle, I will gladly accept public invitations and proudly represent the residents of Oakham at civic events.
Furthermore, I make absolutely no apologies to Mr. Kennedy or anyone else for wanting to restore clear purpose to Oakham Town Council and attempting to reintroduce mayoral charity fundraising an honorable tradition that, until recent years, was always expected of our town's Mayor.
To begin correcting our course, I have officially called an extraordinary meeting of the council to revisit The Vale decision.
Date: 28th May 2026
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Long Row, Oakham
Thank you to the residents of Oakham for your continued warmth, support, and civility.
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