ANOTHER Whitchurch councillor has resigned from the town council – the fourth departure in the last two months.

Councillor Allan Vaughan confirmed he was stepping down at the full council meeting on Monday. As previously reported in The Gazette, Jackie Day, Linda Thomas and Paul McGarvey all stood down in October, citing a lack of support as the reasons for their sudden resignation.

Mrs Day also said that “unacceptable communications” within the town council were part of the reason for her resignation.

In his resignation letter to council chairman Cllr John Clark, Mr Vaughan said he was quitting because of growing work commitments but also over matters of policy.

He said: “I appreciate that you have already had three resignations during your term of office and that a fourth does not help continuity or progression of your own personal agenda for council business.

“I am also conscious we do not agree on some matters of policy and, rather than perpetuate disagreement, it would be better for me to leave the council.”

He added that he had struggled with work and other commitments, “which have caused me to miss council meetings and not action activities as quickly as you have indicated you would have liked.”

An election is due to take place on December 12, at The Gill Nethercott Centre, to fill three of the four vacancies.

Cllr Clark, who is Mayor of Whitchurch, said: “I am only too aware of the amount of time and effort that councillors put in to try to make a difference in Whitchurch.

“I would like to thank Allan for his dedication and commitment to this council, particularly in his role as chairman of the policy and resources committee.

“He introduced changes to procedures in administration to assist the clerks with their ever-increasing workload, and the idea of the clerks having a line manager and annual appraisals. Allan’s expertise will be greatly missed.”

He did not elaborate on the “matters of policy” that Mr Vaughan disagreed with, but said: “There have been differences of opinion over local issues, but this is only to be expected in a democratically-elected council.”