A VETERAN Conservative councillor has been removed from the council’s planning committee after she broke party ranks over the state of the town centre.

Vera Tomlinson, who represents the St Andrews ward, is alleged to have spoken in damning terms about the area during a recent debate on whether to grant planning permission for a new out-of-town retail park.

According to councillors who were at the meeting on July 11, Coun Tomlinson said the town centre had been “going downhill for years” before labelling it as “shameful”.

She is then alleged to have openly criticised the cabinet, made up of members of her own party, for failing to take action to improve it.

One independent observer recalled her saying that they should “pull their finger out and do something.”

Coun Tomlinson has denied making the comments, however the Adver has spoken with a number of people present at the meeting who have supported the allegations.

When challenged on the claims during last week’s full council meeting, Coun Tomlinson was defiant, telling Labour’s Jim Robbins that he should “listen more carefully”.

However, it would not be the first time that the same councillor had spoken frankly about the town centre. In January she described it as “abysmal” and said she was forced to spend her money elsewhere due to the poor retail offer.

But on this occasion, the presence of town centre bosses and developers’ representatives - at the meeting to hear the outcome of the retail park application - is likely to have increased the political fallout.

The decision to remove Coun Tomlinson from the planning committee is understood to have been a late addition to the agenda of a special committee meeting held on Wednesday. She is to be replaced by fellow Conservative councillor, Malcolm Davies.

The leader of the Conservative group, David Renard, has neither confirmed, nor denied, a link between his decision and the alleged remarks made during the recent planning meeting.

In a statement, Coun Renard said: “As leader of the council and the majority group it is my job to keep all Conservative member appointments under continuous review and to make or recommend changes whenever it is appropriate for the best use of all the group’s resources.”

Coun Tomlinson would not comment on her removal at the time of going to press.