A HAWORTH councillor has resigned in disgust after she was accused of fraud by fellow parish council members.

Ashna Yates, who was a member of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council until she quit on June 13, says the dispute erupted after the community group she founded, which used parish council owned land, won £10,000 worth of funding from Tesco.

She said the parish council questioned this funding, then accused her of using some of the community group's cash to pay for a personal trip to Scotland.

Mrs Yates added it also ordered her environmental group, called Haw-Earth, off the parish council's land in Rawdon Road.

She said: "I've chosen to resign on medical grounds.

"They've put me under so much stress by accusing me of committing something that is a criminal act – something I haven't done.

"They accused me of using £150 of Haw-Earth's money to hire a van for a trip to Scotland, even though this was actually paid for by the Ulfhednar [Viking re-enactment] group, as we were travelling to a re-enactment in Largs. I have the receipts for this."

Parish council chairman, Cllr Angel Kershaw, said: "We can't comment fully at the moment for legal reasons.

"But we did have some concerns about how the Haw-Earth project was being run.

"We raised these concerns with Ashna and asked her to provide proof, such as invoices, which she did not do.

"She was asked to resign, and though she did not do so at the time, she has since done so."

Mrs Yates set up Haw-Earth to allow volunteers to grow food on derelict, unused land in the Haworth area.

In 2013, the parish council allowed the group to use former allotment land in Rawdon Road for its activities.

Mrs Yates said when Haw-Earth applied for, and won, the £10,000 Tesco funding, the council demanded to see the relevant paperwork, even though the application had been made online.

"They wanted to see information they had no right to see," she added.

"Our group was using their land, but apart from that, it has nothing to do with the parish council.

"I met with the council on June 9 and they told me Haw-Earth was 'unviable' and that we had to leave the council's land.

"I've no idea why they objected to the £10,000 from Tesco. It had nothing to do with them. This wasn't their money.

"At the meeting, they gave me seven days to resign from the council and asked me to admit to committing fraud."

Mrs Yates said she will be demanding a retraction of the accusation and an apology to her and her Haw-Earth group.

She and her fellow Haw-Earth volunteers intend to continue their growing elsewhere in Haworth, once they find an alternative site.

"I was a councillor for two-and-a-half years and I enjoyed working with people and helping them," Mrs Yates added.

"I've always been an honest person. I've done nothing wrong."

Cllr Kershaw said: "We have notified funders of Haw-Earth of our concerns.

"This is not something we take lightly and not something that has ever happened with our parish council. It is unfortunate.

"We did take legal advice and all our actions followed on from that advice."