A Conservative Councillor has resigned from the Isle of Wight Council after 6 years.
The resignation of Gary Peace means a new representative will be required for Ventnor and St Lawrence and that could mean a by-election.
Mr Peace was 1st elected to the authority in May 2017 and has represented Ventnor ever since.
Under the Conservative administration, the former Scotland Yard detective was a cabinet member for digital transformation and community safety.
He helped the Council respond to the COVID-19 outbreak when the pandemic first hit in 2020. Mr Peace was also a member of the Isle of Wight Council’s harbour and licensing committees.
He said it was a privilege to have represented his residents since his election in 2017 and was “immensely proud to have supported them during some of the most troubling times of their lives”, from planning to flooding issues.
Some of the things he said he has been proud to achieve during his time on the council include supporting businesses across the Island and Ventnor residents through the COVID-19 pandemic, helping them access funding and the services they need.
As well, he said, preventing a vast waste of money being spent on rebuilding Undercliff Drive and, more recently, supporting residents in the fight against the removal of parking spaces in the town.
He said he has taken on several roles as a councillor, working both in and out of the cabinet — once holding the post of cabinet member for digital transformation and community safety — and with members across the chamber on various committees.
Using his expertise outside of local government, Mr Peace has also helped the current Alliance Administration on the Digital Strategy Transformation Board.
Mr Peace thanked the hard-working and dedicated officers and staff at the council, ‘who do so much for the community in the most challenging times’ and wished them the best.
He said: “They deserve all the respect and praise possible as they manage the business of the council while also trying to affect the political wishes of elected members.”
Meanwhile, the Council’s Conservative group is in the process of electing a new leader, following Councillor Suzie Ellis’s decision to step aside.
Rats deserting a sinking ship springs to mind here. The tories are finished and they know it, so they will either jump ship or grab all they can before they are pushed out, probably both actually.
Did he give any reason for his resignation?
Incompetent waste of space as a Councillor.
Another waste of space leaving the sinking ship
Nothing to go overboard about.