Calls for County Councillor Nick Housden to resign after votes of no confidence
Cllr Housden has previously denied any wrongdoing
There are growing calls for Nick Housden to resign after Stonehouse Town Council and Standish Parish Council passed two separate votes of no confidence in the suspended Conservative County Councillor.
The former public health and communities cabinet member at Shire Hall was suspended by the Conservatives after they were made aware of serious allegations against him last month.
The allegations are unknown but Gloucestershire County Council leader Stephen Davies (C, Hardwicke and Severn) said they were serious enough to suspend Cllr Housden from the Tory group.
The Stonehouse County Councillor and former Stroud District Councillor resigned as chairman and director of the Carlton Club in Stroud last month. And he is understood to have left the country for the Netherlands but denies any wrongdoing.
However, Town Councillors in Stonehouse say they have had enough of his lack of appearance at their meetings.
And Standish Parish Council unanimously agreed last week that they have no confidence in Cllr Housden and are calling for his resignation.
Earlier this week Stonehouse Town Council also passed a unanimous vote of no confidence in their County Councillor.
Stonehouse Mayor Neil Gibbs said: “We’ve seen him about three or four times since he was elected in 2021. He would never provide reports.
“Everything we’ve seen in the national and local press about him and his alleged activities have left us effectively without a County Councillor.
“We have no representation. It’s completely unsatisfactory.
“The fact he appears to have left the country. We just think enough is enough.”
Cllr Gibbs said he has told the Gloucestershire County Council leader Stephen Davies (C, Severn and Hardwick) that the town council believes it is high time Cllr Housden resigns.
Councillor John Callinan, who has been on and off the town council since the 1980s, said it was the first no confidence vote in a County Councillor that to have been tabled in all his time as a councillor.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” he said.
Cllr Housden has not responded to the latest request for comment. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.