Kington Town Council’s Mayor has resigned, claiming his presence as the troubled council’s leader may be a “catalyst” for the ongoing division and friction.
Allan Lloyd announced that he was stepping down on Tuesday saying he genuinely and sincerely hoped that there could now be unity of purpose.
He said despite “progress” at the town council, the image of “Kington Town Council remains tarnished”.
Mr Lloyd said there seemed to have been a “small orchestrated group, blatantly supportive of the ‘old regime’, bent on discrediting the council”.
He said the outcome had been a marked loss of public confidence.
“Whatever the reasons, and several have been addressed, the consequential division within the Council, and more importantly within the town, is having noticeable and indisputable negative results,” he added.
Mr Lloyd humbly apologised “to those good people who wish me to continue”.
But Councillor Lloyd’s resignation is unlikely to ease tensions at Kington Town Council as Herefordshire Council’s Standards Committee has referred complaints about the council to the Standards Board for England – and a group calling for the entire council to resign is stepping up its campaign.
In a letter the chairman of the Herefordshire Standards Committee, Robert Rogers, said the referral had taken place for three reasons – first, that they are so serious that, if proven, the conduct complained of merits a sanction greater than that which could be imposed by his committee (a six-month suspension); second, that the investigation of the complaints is likely to be so extensive that it would impose an unreasonable burden upon Herefordshire Council; and third, that two Assessment Sub-Committees have serious concerns about how Kington Council conducts its work.
Mr Roberts said Herefordshire’s Standards Committee had been keen to see standards of governance at Kington improve and had provided advice and support to help.
But he said the latest series of formal complaints against Kington councillors had now convinced him that remedial action of that sort is unlikely to be effective in the present circumstances.
Meanwhile, a campaign group “Enough is Enough in Kington” has invited all town councillors and the town clerk to a meeting of the public in the Bradnor Suite of the Burton Hotel on February 19 at 7.30pm (see column five).
Read ex-Mayor Alan Lloyd’s statement on page 6 of the Mid Wales Journal, February 6, 2009.