THE local elections are looming – and there is set to be an additional contest in Basingstoke after a borough councillor resigned this week.

Labour councillor David Eyre, who has served Brighton Hill South for two years, has decided to stand down as he and his wife are moving to the West Midlands to be closer to their daughters.

The 61-year-old handed in his letter of resignation to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council chief executive Tony Curtis on Tuesday, and he is moving to the West Midlands tomorrow with his wife Janet, 55.

Father-of-three Cllr Eyre, who lives in Kestrel Road, Kempshott, became a councillor in May 2012 after retiring as 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 narrowboat and cruise the rivers across the country.

“Cllr Carolyn 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 its website, and two residents from Basingstoke need to write to the returning officer, Karen Brimacombe, in order to trigger a by-election. If this happens, a by-election is expected to take place on the same day as the other 20 borough ward elections on May 22.