A CONTROVERSIAL mayor is step down from the role.
Jason Hadlow, a 48-year-old businessmen, will quit the role as Yarm Town council at next April’s AGM and said the parish council had become “a joke.”
He has been mayor for six years but said he had struggled in the last year in which time there has been a number of high-profile controversies.
The Conservative said he believed a recent council meeting had breached local government rules because the council continued to discuss issues he thinks they were not legally entitled to because the council clerk was not present.
Mr Hadlow made national headlines earlier this year after calling in police to investigate claims that fellow councillor, Marjorie Simpson, had punched him. Coun Simpson denied that and police eventually dropped the investigation. The mayor deliberately allowed himself to receive a parking fine so he could challenge the legality of Yarm’s disc parking system. That appeal is ongoing. He was a key mover in forcing a Judicial Review against Stockton Borough Council’s plans to introduce pay and display. However a judge last week dismissed the claims leaving Yarm Town Council with a £50,000 legal bill.
Speaking to The Northern Echo, Mr Hadlow said he intended to stand as a councillor. He said: “Being mayor shackles you and everyone looks to you as responsible for everything. Recently I’ve quite envied those others who point the finger but don’t contribute.”
Referring to Mr Hadlow’s claims over the disputed council meeting, a Stockton Council spokesman said it wasn’t the place of the senior authority to comment on the proceedings or governance of Yarm Town Council.