LYDNEY Town councillor Claire Vaughan has blamed ‘certain people’ putting ‘autocracy before democracy’ on the body for her resignation from it.

And she claimed that the authority were ‘not listening’ to ‘common sense, experienced views’.

However, Mayor Cllr Walter Leach has said Cllr Vaughan had never spoken to him about any concerns she had at the way the authority was run and ‘disputes’ that it has been ‘negative’.

And, said the Mayor, she had been ‘unhappy’ that an email he had from her was copied to other elected members. The contents of the email are confidential.

Cllr Vaughan, who continues to represent Lydney East on the Forest of Dean District Council, decided to quit last week and publically said she could not continue ‘when I come up against continous negativity from the current Mayor and deputy Mayor’.

Now, in a fuller letter to this publication, she added to her initial statement.

FULL STORY AND REACTION FROM CLLR LEACH IN THIS WEEK’S FORESTER