MYSTERY surrounds the resignation of a group chairman in charge of overseeing housing developments in the Staffordshire Moorlands for the next 20 years.
Staffordshire Moorlands district councillor Stephen Ellis, who was chairman of the Local Development Framework Working Party, posted a message on the social networking website Twitter that he has resigned.
He said: “Councillor Stephen Ellis has resigned as chairman, and as a member, of the Local Development Framework Working Party as advised to the council leader yesterday.”
This post was followed by an update to his personal blog, http://cllr stephenellis.blogspot.com, which gave more of an insight in to his decision.
He said: “After some careful deliberation starting last August, I yesterday (January 26) tendered my resignation as chairman of the LDF Working Party and as a member of the LDF Working Party. This is a decision I’ve taken with great sadness and a heavy heart.
“I’d like to place on record the support I’ve had from all members of all Parties on the LDF Working Party.
I’d like to wish them every success in the future discussions and debates.”
Councillor Ellis (pictured) was contacted by Your Leek Paper on Monday, but he declined to give a reason for his decision. The Cheadle West councillor was in charge of overseeing controversial plans for more than a thousand homes in the Moorlands.
Council leader Sybil Ralphs stunned fellow councillors when she stood up during a cabinet meeting in August last year to say she was ‘extremely concerned’ about plans to build houses on a greenbelt site and that she had been ‘inundated’ with letters regarding Brownfield options.
Ms Ralphs said alternatives sites needed to be found after seeing proposals to build houses at Mobberley Farm, in Cheadle.
New sites were then put forward on Oakamoor Road and Rakeway Road, which also proved to be unpopular.
In Leek, sites referred to as The Mount, or areas five and six, the Eastern Fringe and North East Leek, were deleted from the LDF.
Ms Ralphs was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press, but has denied claims that the Local Development Framework is in disarray.