A local radio station founder who was once named ‘hardest working man in the community’ claims he is the victim of a ‘vindictive’ campaign by the town council after looking into its links with Marlow Film Studios.

Tim Ashburner, an active participant in his town’s events calendar, has hosted and provided a PA and lighting system for Marlow’s annual Christmas lights switch-on every year since its conception, save for last December when he was away on holiday.

Since founding the non-profit radio station Marlow FM back in 2007, the 60-year-old has enjoyed nearly two decades as a fundamental part of the town’s fabric – but strained relationships with town council officials over the last twelve months now appear to have thrown a spanner into the works.

A Freedom of Information request (FOI) he submitted last year uncovered emails between councillors and the developers behind Marlow Film Studios, including plans for private meetings in London that were interpreted as a “collusion” with figures behind the locally divisive project.

And in September, Tim was told by a council representative that his services were, for the first time, not required at this year’s switch-on, something he said was a “petty, vindictive and unprofessional” attempt by the local authority to punish him for holding it to account.

The FOI findings fed a growing dissatisfaction with the council among locals – sparked by members ‘secretly’ voting in support of the film studio plans last year – and contributed to a near-unanimous vote of no confidence made by over 200 residents at a meeting in April.

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Shortly afterwards, council leader Chris Funnell warned against “unpleasant abuse and harassment” from residents and said he, alongside councillors Colleen Stapley and Richard Scott, were “taking legal advice” in regard to “potentially libellous comments on social media”.

Given all that had unfolded, Tim said the revelation that he would no longer be helping with the Christmas lights event “didn’t really come as a surprise”.

He does, however, believe that the council “turned a normal journalistic investigation into a personal vendetta”, failing to take responsibility for the “widespread views” he was representing by submitting the FOI.

“It was a campaign that I took up on other people’s behalf and now I’m being punished for it. They’re shooting themselves in the foot because now they’ll have to pay around £500 for the equipment and facilities I usually provide at the switch-on.

“The reason I started investigating was because of a local feeling that the council wasn’t being open enough. This kind of behaviour just suggests more of the same.”

A spokesperson for Marlow Town Council declined a request for comment.