A FORMER mayor has left the Labour Party as he believes the town council is becoming ‘too political’.

Cllr Ken Denton, who represents the Lever Park ward on Horwich Town Council, will now serve the community as an Independent, having been a Labour man for the past seven years.

The 73-year-old refused to go into much detail but said he was “unhappy” with several things that had been going on at the town council.

He said: “I have become an Independent because I feel that the town council is not a place for politics. It is as simple as that.

“I’m a big believer in the fact that politics should not be involved at town council level and I don’t wish to be part of that.

“The town council should be a community council and it is just meant to be non-political.”

He said there were several things that had happened recently that he was unhappy with but did not want to “go into the nitty gritty”.

The change for the Fearnhead Avenue resident comes just a year after he completed his term as town mayor of Horwich, a title he held from May, 2015 to May, 2016.

Cllr Denton was also town mayor in 2007/08.

He was first elected to Horwich Town Council around 15 years ago when he was a member of the Liberal Democrats.

He retired due to ill health after eight years before returning to represent Labour in Bridge Ward in 2013 after he was co-opted onto the council when other candidates dropped out of a by-election race.

He was then elected to represent Lever Park during the local elections in 2015.

Following his recent move to become independent, Cllr Denton was keen to point out that there was no animosity between him and the Labour Party members.

He said: “I still agree with a lot of the principles still but I believe we should get things done for the town. There’s a big list of things we could be doing and that we should be doing.

“But I was unhappy with the way things were going. It was getting political.

“They want to play politics and I don’t want to be part of that. I have never been that kind of councillor. Don’t get me wrong, I still support socialist principles but I just think we should be focusing on doing our best for the town.”