A MAN who was banned from the offices of a parish council after being branded a “habitual and vexatious” complainant will make a shock return to the building after he was elected unopposed.

Businessman Robert Ridley is banned from communicating in any way with Croxley Green Parish Counicl staff after they objected to his persistent emails, telephone calls, complaints and information requests.

He remains the only person to have been banned since the council agreed a policy to combat “habitual/vexatious” complainants in November 2009 but will now take his place as an elected member in May.

Mr Ridley, who stood for election with the message Stop The Parish Council Wasting Money, is one of four candidates to be elected unopposed to represent Croxley Green South – one of three council wards.

The uncontested election was allowed because only four candidates put their names forward for the five available seats, meaning that a proper ballot was impossible.

In the council’s two other wards 16 candidates will seek election to the remaining 12 seats.

Mr Ridley, of Scots Hill, served on the council between 2000 and 2008 and served as its vice chairman in 2007. But he is currently permitted to contact the council only by writing to out-going chairman Marion Birch. The council’s computers have even been configured to block messages from his account.

The 54-year-old insists, however, that he will take his seat after May’s local elections and will play a full and constructive role in council matters.

He said: “They banned me as a member of the public but now I am not a member of the public – I am an elected member. I have been running businesses for more than 35 years and want to use my experience to help the council.

“But the real story here is not that I was elected, it is that there were just 20 people standing for 16 seats. That proves that either people can’t be bothered with the parish council or they think it is useless and a total waste of money.

“Rickmansworth gets on perfectly well without a parish council and I’ve never heard anyone over there calling for one over there.”

Councillor Birch, who will step down as chairman in May, said: “Britain prides itself on its democratic process and we must accept that we are in a democracy and that this is the due processes. But it is disappointing that there was not enough candidates in South Ward to have a vote.”