A COUNCILLOR has accused fellow members of breaking the rules after they decided against electing him as the deputy mayor of Oswestry.

Cllr Duncan Kerr was next in line on the list of seniority to take on the role of deputy mayor; however town councillors voted Monday night in favour of going against established tradition, and instead appointed Cllr Mark Jones as the deputy mayor-elect as Cllr Kerr was absent from the meeting.

It has been a long-standing tradition to elect the councillor who has served longest on the council as the new mayor and deputy mayor, and Cllr Kerr insists rules were broken by appointing someone with less experience than he has.

"It is a sad day for the town, the council and for Oswestry," he said in a statement.

"At a time when we need to respect differing views the council should not be throwing away a tradition that has served the town well.

"It has been a long standing tradition and indeed the rules of Oswestry town council that the longest serving councillor becomes the deputy mayor and then the mayor.

"This avoids these civic roles from being political appointments by whatever group happens to have the most councillors. It has seen mayors drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds and views.

"On Monday night the town council started the process of choosing the mayor for the next civic year and if the constitution had been adhered to I would have become the deputy mayor.

"Disappointingly this didn't happen and the rules were broken to appoint a conservative councillor with less service than myself."

Cllr Kerr will now have to wait until next year to be considered for the role again.