TWO COUNCILLORS have resigned from a parish authority following a dispute over an election.

Former Colnbrook Parish Council chairman, Cllr Peter Hood, resigned after 23 years of service last week. Cllr Ray Angell, the former vice-chairman who worked alongside him, has also resigned.

Current chairman of the parish council, Scott Byrant, 42, of Brands Hill, said: “They have both resigned after 23 years volunteering as Parish councillors.

“Presumably they were both not happy that an election has been called. That had an effect on them, but they have been here for 23 years, and felt it was time to move on and enjoy their personal and family life.”

The parish council had hoped to co-opt someone into the now-vacant seat of Cllr Kishorbhai ‘K’ Laxman, who died in August. However, residents of Colnbrook chose to call an election instead, by submitting the required ten signatures to Slough Borough Council.

Cllr Byrant expressed reservations about the election himself. He said: “An election is costly. It costs £8,000 to run – we did budget for it, but there will be another election in 2019, meaning that in a short space of time there will be two elections.

“An election doesn’t give councillors time to meet potential new councillors. If we co-opt, we can receive CVs, interview them, find out more about them. Now we could get someone from outside of the village, who doesn’t know Colnbrook.”

Slough Borough Council is now inviting further signatures from residents of Colnbrook calling for elections, so that the elections for all three empty seats can be held simultaneously. If enough signatures are received, the date for the election will be no later than December 7.

Cllr Angell said: “I had no intention of standing again anyway, so I thought it would be a good to get some new people in, let them see how things work before the next election. We’re having an election anyway, so it won’t cost any more.” Cllr Hood declined to comment on his resignation.

The deadline for signatures calling for an election is 11.59pm on Monday, October 30. Full details can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yd4ow32y