A ROW between members of Fladbury Parish Council and their county councillor, Liz Eyre, ended in a vote of no confidence in her.

Coun Mrs Eyre was criticised by the council for her vote in the Cabinet at the county council in favour of closure of the road through Wyre Piddle when the bypass is completed.

Parish council chairman Bill Llewlleyn said the no-confidence vote was passed on Monday by seven votes with two abstentions.

He explained: "The point about this vote was that some of the councillors felt that coun Mrs Eyre did not follow our desire for her to oppose the closure of the road. She gave very detailed reasons on why she felt she had to go along with the majority vote in Cabinet."

Coun Llewellyn added: "She was able to get the county council to look very seriously at keeping the bridge open for buses and emergency services but parish councillors were not very happy."

He said it was felt the road closure was brought about by the desire of some people in Wyre who thought it would result in an increase in the value of their properties. People in Lower Moor and Fladbury, as well as a lot of people in Wyre, were very disturbed about it and thought the Cabinet had made the wrong decision.

Coun Llewellyn said coun Mrs Eyre was an extremely good county councillor and extremely helpful to Fladbury parish council.

Coun Mrs Eyre said: "It was a difficult call. I represent all the council taxpayers in the county at a strategic level, all 10 villages in my division and the electorate of Fladbury. This was primarily a Wyre Piddle issue but I agree Fladbury parish council and Fladbury First School have real concerns.

"At Cabinet I was given assurances that in whatever form the closure was implemented, Fladbury First School would not be adversely affected, nor would the timeliness of the emergency services or the provision of local bus services. With such information and my knowledge of the area, I found it impossible to honestly vote otherwise."

She added: "In view of the bypass and the move to change the A4538 to the A44, I am actively working for Fladbury to achieve appropriate changes to Fladbury cross roads to benefit the resident of the village, users of that section of the road and to support the many requests for an improvement from Evesham Golf Club."