Eccles resigns from council (From Stroud News and Journal)

Eccles resigns from council

LABOUR councillor Bob Eccles who was fined for video taping the 'legs and groins' of women in London's Trafalgar Square last year has resigned his council seat.

Cllr Eccles had only just returned to public life in April with his first appearance at Stroud District Council since the incident in September last year.

But at the council's annual general meeting on Thursday, May 19 chief executive David Hagg announced the Labour veteran was to retire.

Many councillors sounded dismayed as Mr Hagg said: "I have received the resignation of Cllr Bob Eccles with effect from the 25th of May 2005."

Cllr Eccles, a long-serving district and county councillor, was fined £500 by Bow Street Magistrates on October 27 last year after he admitted disorderly conduct.

Shortly after his court appearance, Mr Eccles suffered a heart attack and then failed to attend any meetings of either Stroud or the county council.

At that time he bowed out of public life without resigning his seats on either Stroud district or Gloucestershire County Council.

The rules of both authorities state that if a councillor fails to attend any meetings for six months he is automatically disqualified from membership.

Stroud District Council decided to give him time to recover from his illness and he was given until May 19 to attend a meeting.

Cllr Eccles' subsequent appearance at the SDC meeting on April 14 raised hopes among supporters that he might make a return to public office.

He had already decided not to stand for re-election to Gloucestershire County Council on May 5 having made the decision to stand down from the authority.

Mr Eccles, a keen cyclist who has been a leading campaigner on environmental issues at Gloucestershire County Council, stepped down from the Council Cabinet and from membership of the Police Authority after the case.