One of the longest serving members of Wellington Town Council this week announced his shock decision to step down as head of its promotion committee - and with it the chairmanship of Wellington Literary Festival, in which he was a key player.
Councillor Gary Davies said he had taken the decision to resign because of “political bias” within the town council.
He has been a member of the council since 1988 and served as chairman of the promotions committee on and off for 12 years. He remains a councillor.
Councillor Davies said he felt he would be voted off the committee in May because of political bias towards the majority party - a claim which the Deputy Mayor of Wellington, Barry Tillotson, strongly denied.
Public
Councillor Davies said: “It is with deep regret that I have stepped down as chair of the Promotions Committee which includes the Literary Festival.
“I took this decision in October but did not make this public until December as I wanted to make sure that the Christmas lights were a success.
“We’d just gone into a contract with the new supplier for the Christmas lights, which were the best we’ve had,” he said.
“It is important for me to leave on my terms and it is better to give up when the going is good than be voted off,” said Councillor Davies.
He added: “The council is a political council and it is clear that the Conservative group wishes to chair all the committees.”
But Councillor Tillotson said he disagreed with Councillor Davies’ comments.
Reasons
He said: “Wellington Town Council is not a biased council at all and there is no separate agenda. I think Councillor Davies has his own reasons for resigning.”
Mr Howard Perkins, clerk of Wellington Town Council said: “Speaking on behalf of the Mayor of Wellington and the staff, I would like to say how sorry we are to learn of Councillor Davies’ resignation. He has exceptional talent, he has worked extremely hard for Wellington and has achieved real results. We are very sorry to lose him.”
Councillor Mary Lewis said: “I am sorry that he is stepping down as chairman of the promotions committee. He has been an excellent chairman who has taken the Literary Festival forward over the years. I do appreciate all the work he has done in the past.”
Councillor Davies added: “I would like to pay a special tribute to Mary Lewis, who has worked incessantly on the Literary Festival and has been a great help during what has sometimes been a difficult time. The promotion of Wellington is extremely important and the Literary Festival has grown to be a professional event and I have met many wonderful people through it. I will miss the buzz of working on it.”
