Oakham councillor resigns following decision not to consider Centenary Field as a site for proposed skatepark
A town councillor has resigned following a decision to turn down a skatepark.
In her letter addressed to Oakham mayor Sally-Anne Wadsworth, Zoe Nealson, who was mayor of the town from May 2021 to April 2022, said she had been "embarrassed to be a member of Oakham Town Council".
"Last night this embarrassment escalated to shame," she wrote.
During a meeting on Wednesday evening (December 7), Oakham town councillors voted by majority against Centenary Field being the location for a proposed skatepark.
While debating the matter, Coun Adam Lowe was heard to accuse Coun Nealson of lying.
Coun Nealson immediately appealed to the mayor, who was chairing the meeting, and said: “He is such a bully. Are you going to allow this?”
Cries from the public gallery followed, demanding Coun Wadsworth do something about Coun Lowe’s accusation.
In her letter of resignation, Mrs Nealson brought up Coun Wadsworth's handling of the incident.
Coun Lowe was, earlier this year, found to be in breach of Oakham Town Council’s Code of Conduct by behaving in a disrespectful and intimidating way. This related to an incident in 2021, which involved Coun Nealson.
As a result, six months of sanctions were placed upon Coun Lowe, effectively meaning he could not represent the council as a committee member or for any outside body, but that he could remain as a member of Oakham Town Council.
Coun Lowe is himself a former mayor of Oakham.
For four years until 2018, he sat as an independent councillor on Rutland County Council when he resigned, citing he wanted to: “…focus on work-life balance, either the town council had to go or the county council had to go.”
His resignation from Rutland County Council caused a by-election resulting in the first Labour councillor to sit in Rutland for more than 20 years.
Mrs Nealson ended her resignation letter by asking Coun Wadsworth to resign as well.
Oakham Town Council has been approached for comment.
