A council has suffered a sudden rash of resignations.
Sandy Town Council has already lost three councillors this year – and a total of six since the current electoral term began in 2011.
This week the council announced that Ken Lynch had resigned. A fortnight ago Andy Maycock also resigned from the council and former mayor Geoff White resigned in January.
Geoff said: “When you become a town councillor you are told that you must never criticise the decisions of the council, even if you disagree with them. I have always thought that rule is a bit daft but it is the rule.
“I found myself fundamentally disagreeing with some of my colleagues’ decisions. I was not allowed to be critical so I felt it was time for me to go.”
Sandy’s mayor, Councillor Susan Sutton, said that people resign for many reasons such as changed family and work circumstances.
She said: “As a council we want to retain our members for complete terms of office but sometimes life has a habit of getting in the way.
“The work of a town councillor is time consuming and perhaps more demanding than some people expect.
“Not everyone feels able to support collective decision making or to abide by the code of conduct and occasionally this can also result in resignations.
“As a council we provide support and training for all our councillors and we encourage prospective candidates to come in and meet with our town clerk to learn more about what is involved before they stand for office.
“The great thing is that we still have 13 committed volunteers working to represent the community as councillors and I am confident we will soon have two more.”
See www.sandytown council.gov.uk to find out how to stand for office and fill the current vacancies.