Pinhoe councillor steps down

Exeter City Councillor Simon Bowkett announced today (6 July) that he is to step down as councillor for the Pinhoe ward from immediate effect.

The resignation is likely to result in a by-election to fill the vacancy. Because there is a period of 10 months before all-out City Council elections in May, the local authority has to prepare for a by-election, provided at least two electors come forward. If the resignation had been after November, a by-election would not have been necessary.

Cllr Bowkett said the decision was because of work commitments away from the City Council, where he is the Chief Executive at Exeter CVS.

He said: "After some considerable thought, and following discussions with my colleagues and my partner, I have taken the hard decision to resign as an Exeter City Councillor with immediate effect.

"Since taking the helm of Exeter CVS, I have been working to modernise the organisation, and to position it to be a better strategic partner to the public sector – particularly in tackling social exclusion and health inequalities. We are now at a critical point in that journey, with building work about to start on Wat Tyler House to transform it into a multi-agency wellbeing hub; involving the City Council, homelessness services, Devon Partnership NHS Trust, Devon Doctors and the Probation Service.

"Parallel to this, we are working with the Clinical Commissioning Group, Devon & Cornwall Police and Devon County Council to bring significant social investment to the city, to support preventative interventions in community safety, health, and social care.

"These are all major strategic projects, and ones that require my full attention. I am impatient for change and with limited time, and I feel I have more opportunity to influence the projects and policies that address social injustice in my “day job” than in the role of a backbench councillor, and so it seems most productive to focus my attentions there."

Cllr Bowkett said that his role with CVS increasingly brought him into contact with the City Council and other local public bodies and it was important that he could speak and act independently and as a critical friend away from his role as a City Councillor.