ONE of the Swindon’s top politicians is quitting the council’s cabinet.

Coun Fionuala Foley (Con), the councillor in charge of leisure and libraries, will stand down from the council leadership after the May 5 elections.

She has been on the Tory-controlled cabinet for the last seven years, but will resign her role as head of the leisure department for personal reasons.

She is currently campaigning for re-election to her Old Town and Lawn seat.

Last May she stepped down as deputy leader of the council but remained on the cabinet.

Council leader Rod Bluh said he doesn’t yet know who will replace her, because until the election happens he doesn’t know how many Conservative councillors he has “to play with”.

Revealing her intention to quit in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday night, Coun Bluh said: “Fionuala has decided this will be her last meeting. She wants to step down from the cabinet whatever happens in May.

“She’s realised there’s a life outside here.

“If you want someone who really gets stuck in, Fionuala fits the bill. Thank you for everything you’ve done and I wish you a more relaxing year.”

Coun Foley, 44, who manages property for a living, said she spends up to 50 hours a week on cabinet business, as well as perhaps another 10 hours on ward issues.

She said: “It’s purely for personal reasons. I’ve thought about it for a long time. It’s about having a council and work and home-life balance. People sometimes don’t realise councillors work as well.

“If you want to do your job properly and really learn your service area, it’s not something you can do in a couple of hours in an evening.

“I’ve truly enjoyed my time on the cabinet. I wouldn’t rule out going back in a couple of years’ time.”

She formally stands down on May 20.

But her resignation also comes ahead of the publication of a review of library services.

The report is being carried out by a consultancy firm, and is due to be published in June.

Some fear it will recommend handing control of libraries over to private companies.

Coun Foley has come out firmly against any library closures, and is strongly opposed to privatisation.

But libraries campaigner Shirley Burnham, 63, of Arundel Close, Lawn, said she worries that Coun Foley’s successor may not be as strong a campaigner.

She said: “Over the years she’s become stronger on libraries, with a lot of encouragement from residents, and has become much more reliable.

“She’s a good campaigner from the point of view that she hasn’t recently closed any.

But she added: “In of her colleagues in the past haven’t been particularly friendly to libraries...

“There’s always a degree of worry because you don’t know what their mindset is.

“I’m hoping whoever takes over will have his ears and eyes open.”