COUNCILLORS have been accused of voting out the chairman of a committee because he opposed controversial plans to build an incinerator near Stroud.

Cllr Steve Lydon (Lab, Dursley) has been replaced by Liberal Democrat Iain Dobie (Leckhampton and Warden Hill) as the chairman of Gloucestershire County Council’s health and care overview and scrutiny committee (HOSC).

Lib Dem and Conservative members voted for Cllr Dobie, and the leader of the Labour group, Cllr Lesley Williams (Stonehouse), has said this was “revenge for Cllr Lydon’s outspoken views against plans to build an incinerator at Javelin Park”.

But Tory Cllr Mark Hawthorne, the leader of GCC, dismissed the notion.

He said: “It’s hard to see full council’s decision to change the chair of HOSC from a Labour councillor to a Liberal Democrat could have any relationship to Javelin Park – particularly as council appointed a Labour councillor as chairman of the council at the same meeting.”