A TOWN council is in turmoil after its mayor resigned, another councillor quit and the chief executive went on sick leave with “stress”.

The exodus at Lydney Town Council saw mayor Brian Pearman quit, claiming he had “got to the end of my tether” because council infighting was “beyond a joke”.

Cllr Harry Ives, who is also a member of the Forest of Dean District Council representing Lydney North, also tendered his resignation before an extraordinary meeting of the authority, in the belief he had been criticised by town council chief executive Jayne Smailes for his handling of the Bathurst Park ‘Party in the Park’ event at the start of July.

The July 15 meeting proved chaotic as elected members discussed the Bathurst Park event, where TV’s Only Fools and Horses and Benidorm actor, John Challis, was star guest.

Cllr Ives quit before the meeting over an email from Mrs Smailes concerning equipment used at the event and other issues, including the awarding of flowers to Mrs Rose Christodoulides for her work in raising money for the event from a company.

It was also claimed that a walkie-talkie had gone missing. Mr Ives said he bought a new ‘walkie-talkie’ for £183 to replace it, and 4,000 people had attended the event which recieved “lots of positive feedback”.

But in his resignation email, he said Mrs Smailes’ emails had painted him “as incompetent and careless”.

“I have tolerated much over five years, but this went too far for me,” he said.

And the chaos of the meeting plus other issues since last year proved too much for Mr Pearman on Thursday (July 25) as he tended his resignation as both mayor and a town councillor.

He said afterwards: “I can’t bear to watch it fall apart,” citing chat on social media as one reason the council had been brought to its knees.

Mr Pearman, who took over as mayor from former councillor Bob Berryman after May’s elections, said: “I have had more than enough of the nonsense that has been going on by members for the past eight months. It is beyond a joke. You have a CEO off sick with a stress-related illness and there are members undermining everything we are trying to do.

“I have got to the end of my tether on it.”

Mr Pearman said that the council were one of the few town or parish councils in England to gain a Quality Gold Award from the National Association of Local Councils for their work in the community.

But such ambitions were a long way off now, he said.

“We took the council from near bankruptcy in 2010 to Quality Gold status. We would never get near that status now.”

As for the situation at the council at the moment, Mr Pearman added: “I cannot see a way of resolving it.

“I have tried but I cannot carry on like this.

“It will get worse and worse and I just cannot bear to see it (the council) fall apart.

“It was wonderful for a time, but there are people on that council now who basically want to ruin it.

“It is not all members (who want to ruin it) but enough.

“I have put my heart and soul into this.”

Mr Ives said last week: “If you put a great deal of time into something over the months and then you had an email like that, you take it badly.”

Mrs Smailes was unavailable to comment on Cllr Ives’ resignation as she is currently on sick leave, believed to be with stress, from the authority.