AN EAST Riding councillor who is facing calls for him to resign says he will not quit.

Andy Strangeway, an Independent councillor who represents the Pocklington Provincial ward, was officially censured in a vote by East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s full council last week.

The full council supported sanctions recommended by the authority’s standards committee at a recent hearing, which upheld allegations of bullying, not treating others with respect and making a confidential council email public via his blog.

The sanctions included removing Cllr Strangeway from the pensions committee and his access to confidential council papers.

However, he says the council have no powers to sack him.

He claims several councillors called on him to resign during the full council meeting.

“The findings at the standards committee hearing was in breach of my Article 10 rights - freedom of expression, he said.

“I can freely speak. I raised this and they will not accept it.

“The council can request my Independent group remove me from the pensions committee. They can’t exclude me.

“They can’t remove my access to papers. They can’t make me apologise. They can’t make me remove something from my site.”

He added: “I will not be quitting. I am there to represent residents who elected me.

“I will hold the ruling party to account, including the ruling officers.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Strangeway has received a vote of no confidence from Pocklington Town Council.

Mayor of Pocklington, Cllr David Sykes, said the town council would be calling for him to resign, adding: “He is no longer allowed to access confidential papers. We feel he no longer represents the town.”

In response, Cllr Strangeway said: “The town council has not stated the documents I do not have access to. They have also not stated what documents I need to represent residents. In addition, confidential documents are all over the Indepedent office so what are they going to do?”