A town councillor at the heart of bullying claims which have seen eight of his fellow members resign has called the accusations 'a lot of tosh'.

Doug Lawson was the subject of allegations of abuse against Elaine Oliver, the former Downham Market town clerk, at a dramatic full council meeting, held at the Jubilee Community Centre on Tuesday, February 15.

The meeting saw eight councillors - including mayor Jenny Groom and her deputy Jackie Westrop - quit Downham Market Town Council in protest at the 'bullying' they had encountered while serving.

Ms Groom announced Ms Oliver was leaving to 'pursue other opportunities', and then revealed the resignation of six councillors - Elizabeth Hendry, Alan Pickering, Willow Woodmin, Jo Woodmin, Becky Hayes and Simon Gomes-DaCosta.

Eastern Daily Press: Pictured front (left to right) Elizabeth Hendry, Jo Woodmin, Alan Pickering, with Jackie Westrop and Jenny Groom stood behind.Pictured front (left to right) Elizabeth Hendry, Jo Woodmin, Alan Pickering, with Jackie Westrop and Jenny Groom stood behind. (Image: Archant)

In a joint resignation statement, the six, who did not attend, said they were taking a stand against 'continued and incessant bullying'.

In their statement, which was read out at the meeting by Ms Groom, they claimed it had been carried out by councillors, 'orchestrated by councillor Lawson'.

It added: "We will not stand by and collude with the scurrilous behaviour of those councillors whose ongoing misogynistic, racist, homophobic and generally bigoted discriminatory behaviour has been directed not only at the clerk and her staff but also at fellow councillors and members of the public."

Both Ms Westrop and Ms Groom walked out of the meeting after announcing their resignations.

Following the meeting, Mr Lawson said he would be asking a solicitor to look over the comments made about him by his departing colleagues.

He said: “There’s a lot of fiction, a lot of false accusations, and I actually don’t recognise any of them."

In response to the point made about many of the councillors that have resigned being women, he said: “I don’t think it’s a gender based thing at all.

"It’s a great shame the women decided to go, and hopefully we can get some women to replace them."

There have now been 16 resignations since 2019, and the town council currently has 10 councillor vacancies.

Mr Lawson added: “Maybe if they acted lawfully they wouldn’t have felt like resigning.”

He said he would like the council 'to get back to lawful ways of working' and responded to the accusations made against him as 'a lot of tosh'.