The controversial new mayor of Ludlow, Councillor Marie Glaze, could be stripped of office after being reported for allegedly breaching election rules.
Councillor Glaze’s election as Mayor of Ludlow Town Council has already sparked three resignations by councillors.
Ludlow Town clerk Paul Russell also offered his verbal resignation, although Councillor Glaze says he has since rescinded it.
However, Councillor Glaze now faces an investigation following an allegation that she breached rules governing elections for the post of mayor by soliciting support prior to the election.
The allegation was made by Councillor Rosanna Taylor-Smith, who is a member of South Shropshire District Council but who resigned from Ludlow Council two weeks ago. She has reported Mrs Glaze to Ludlow Town clerk Mr Russell and South Shropshire District Council’s monitoring officer, Veronica Calderbank. Mrs Calderbank confirmed she had received a report.
Councillor Taylor-Smith said: “The Ludlow Town Council constitution clearly stated that there is to be no solicitation of votes by members for election to the position of the mayor.
“The constitution clearly also states that members caught soliciting will have to stand down from the position obtained.
“I would like to suggest to the current town councillors that they may wish to consider resigning en masse, in order for the town council to start afresh, following this rather unfortunate period.”
Today Councillor Glaze defended her position and said: “I asked people to support me. But there’s nothing wrong in that. Everybody does it. Former mayors have done it and other people did it before the election.”
5 Comments
When people in Shropshire ask why is a unitary authority required? They need look no further than the crackpots who sit on town, parish and district councils. How much money are these idiots wasteing on their ego trips?
More gloves off it seems ….
Could be. Alleged. Might be. Possibly.
Hardly a news story, is it?
Dave, town and parish councils will NOT be absorbed inot the unitary structure.
At this point I feel i must speak out in defence of those councillors who are decent, hardworking and responsible people with a genuine desire to work in the best interests of their town, They find themselves embroiled in an extremely unpleasant situation which is being led by a handful of people, one in particular, seemingly hellbent on getting their own way. Ignorant doesn’t even begin to describe them. With support, and a positive result from the now very necessary byelections, these councillors should be able to return to a sensible and measured way of doing business on behalf of all the residents of Ludlow in the near future.