A BRIGHTON Hill South councillor is to stand down on Friday.

Cllr David Eyre, who has served Brighton Hill South for two years has decided to stand down from his position to move to the West Midlands to be closer to his daughters.

The 61-year-old handed in his letter of resignation to the chief executive of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Tony Curtis, this morning and will move to the West Midlands on Friday, with wife, Janet, 55.

The father-of-three, who lives in Kestrel Road, Kempshott, became a councillor in May 2012 after retiring as the headteacher of Brighton Hill Community School in July 2011 after six years at the helm.

Cllr Eyre told The Gazette: “It is very exciting for me and my wife. We want to move closer to our two daughters in the Midlands and we are going to buy a narrow boat and cruise the rivers across the country.

“Councillor Wooldridge will support residents across the whole Brighton Hill patch and before I was elected she was picking up work in Brighton Hill South because she gets things done.

“I have enjoyed working with the residents immensely and I am grateful to them for their support. I knew the patch very well but on the other hand, my family will always come first and we have come to an area of our life where we can change direction.”

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has put a notice of a casual vacancy for the Brighton Hill South ward on their website and two residents from Basingstoke need to write to the returning officer, Karen Brimacombe, in order to trigger a by-election.

A by-election is expected to take place on the same day as borough elections on May 22.