Shropshire councillor resigns and moves back to Australia

A Shropshire councillor has officially resigned from his post after moving back to Australia with his family, it was revealed today.

Dr Maxwell Winchester, who represented the Quarry and Coton Hill ward in Shrewsbury, formally resigned yesterday after moving back to the country of his birth.

He has been on Shropshire Council since June 2009 and was on the former Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council for two years before that.

The Tory councillor was influential in campaigning on a number of local issues, particularly against plans for a multi-million pound incinerator at Battlefield.

Richard Thomas, Shropshire Council's democratic services manager, said: "Councillor Maxwell Winchester formally resigned as a councillor yesterday and, as far as we are aware, all normal arrangements have been completed.

"A notice of election has been posted and, if contested, we would expect a poll to be held in mid to late February."

Dr Winchester, a lecturer in marketing at Harper Adams University College at Edgmond near Newport, moved back to Australia with his wife and two children after landing a job at a university in Melbourne.

Fellow Shropshire Councillor Claire Wild, today said a bed and breakfast owner Judie McCoy had been selected as the Tory candidate to contest the expected by-election next month.

Councillor Wild said: "I think Max was an excellent councillor."