A NEWENT councillor who has proudly served the town for seven years has blasted the authority over a host of procedural issues and a “negative and un-transparent culture”, as he shocked residents by resigning his post last week.

Eli Heathfield, 27, who is popular among constituents having represented Newent North East since 2015, says that internal politics and breaches of the rules has left him with no alternative but to quit the council, for which he says he is “deeply sorry” to have to let residents down.

Eli, who has learning difficulties, also cited “discriminatory comments” that have been made about his disability on a number of occasions at the council, although this had no bearing on his decision to resign.

He posted his resignation letter to the Newent Noticeboard Facebook page last Sunday (April 8), which prompted an outcry from local residents about the council and how Eli had been treated.

Eli began the letter by outlining his pride at what he has achieved as a councillor, including founding the Newent Town Council Youth Action Group (YAG), his role in instigating both the Jubilee Wildlife Walk and Duck Village at Newent Lake, and championing the need for an Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) for the town.

But he went on to cite a host of problems he has encountered, including the “insensitive” handling of cemetery issues, and says he was labelled “a councillor who couldn’t wait to jump on the bandwagon” when he tried to help residents.

He explained how his mother - who is his aid - was asked to sign “what was in effect a gagging order” after being accused of knowing things that were confidential, even though they were in the public domain.

He says there is a “negative culture” towards resident engagement at the council and that engaging or answering residents questions on social media or in person is “frowned upon”.

He says he is “very concerned” the council’s Emergency Team has changed its protocol from being proactive in responding to local emergencies to being “reactive” to the decisions of Forest of Dean District Council.

He also says the council is in breach of financial regulations, with full council having been “eliminated” from staffing decisions.

He also accused the council of “deliberately driving towards a negative and un-transparent culture”, citing a lack of reports from working groups, as well as notices, information and minutes that are “as basic as can be”.

And he says it is “absolutely astonishing” that the council allowed the clerk to refuse to implement a resolution to have audio recordings of meetings made available to the public.

He says that when he has tried to point out to the council that they “need to be mindful of breaching regulations”, he has been accused of bullying.

As founder of Newent’s Youth Action Group, Eli has been a fierce advocate for the young people of the town during his time with the council.

And he says the “straw that broke the camels back” was a decision to deny a youth project funding over a technicality that he feels could have been “easily rectified”, at a meeting he was not able to attend because he was recovering from Covid-19.

Eli said although he will miss serving the town, he hopes his resignation will spark reform within the council.

“All I can say, is that I am deeply sorry to have let residents of the town down by resigning, but I have spent seven years swimming against the current”, he said.

“Now my resignation has highlighted the problems within the Council, I am hoping they will take steps to reform both the practices and the culture.

“If this doesn’t happen, more people who care about the town need to stand in the next elections to ensure there is more choice to enable the culture to change, so the town can progress.”

A spokesperson for Newent Town Council said in response to his resignation: “We were sad to receive his (Eli’s) resignation and over his seven years as a Councillor, he has contributed significantly to developments in Newent Town Council and within the local communities.

“Within his resignation letter there are several issues that have been raised, that we are investigating.”