A MEMBER of Chard Town Council has resigned from his position citing increased pressures in the day to day to running of his town centre business.

Les Gilbert was elected in the local elections in May 2019, marking success on his first time standing for the council.

He received 394 votes, good for 28 per cent in the Holyrood ward, which handed him the second of three seats.

When he won the seat, Mr Gilbert said: “A huge thank you to all those that voted for me.

“And I am of course, really pleased to have been elected as a Chard Town Councillor for the Holyrood Ward.

“But given the make up of both the Town and District Council the challenges ahead for Chard will I think be enormous and I am very conscious that real change may be difficult to make.

“However, working with other Independents, and other like minded Councillors I will do my very best to represent everybody within the ward and the wider community and to do what is best for Chard.

“I offer my sincere congratulations to all of those elected, both at District and Town and look forward to working with you all.”

However, Mr Gilbert, who owns Chard News at 37-39 Fore Street, has now stepped away from the role.

Speaking to the News, he said: “Unfortunately recently increased workload, involving travel away from Chard along with the pressures of running the business meant that I could not give the council duties anything like the time and commitment that I felt was necessary.”

Last year, Nick White was the only unsuccessful candidate for the Holyrood ward. In the Combe ward, Victoria Whiteman missed out by one vote. In Crimchard ward, Tim Eggins missed out by 11 votes.