ONE town councillor has won the support of voters again in the recent elections, but his influence has been curtailed by fellow members after bringing the town council “into disrepute”.

Westhoughton councillor Jack Speight has been at the centre of town council turmoil since 2017.

In the latest disagreement in April, councillors voiced complaints that Cllr Speight had cast unfounded aspersions on town clerk Christine Morris by his abstaining from voting on agenda items, claiming he did not receive minutes.

Ahead of Thursday’s elections, the town council passed motions to prevent Cllr Speight from participating fully in council activities should he be re-elected.

The minutes from an April 29 meeting say that Cllr Speight had been telling “lies” and had “breached the Town Council’s Anti-Harassment Policy, the Health and Safety Policy, the Code of Conduct”, bringing the authority “intro disrepute”.

Cllr Speight was re-elected by more than 300 people to represent a one-month-old party which created and now leads, Westhoughton Fist Independents. Now, his influence for Chequerbent ward will be limited.

Councillors voted to create an opportunity for Cllr Speight to apologise at every meeting. It was also decided that he would not be able to represent the town council on any outside bodies, or on any town council committees for the next three years.

Cllr David Wilkinson said on the issue: “It's up to him to decide his position, we can't make him apologise. It's up to him to try and resolve it."

Cllr Speight has been approached for comment.