A CORNWALL Councillor has launched a scathing attack on local government structure accusing his council of wasting public money and members of voting like sheep.

UKIP party member Derek Elliot will be stepping down from his post as Cornwall Councillor for Four Lanes, a position he had held for three "hard, successful and enjoyable years".

Mr Elliot has delivered an explosive and lengthy letter to Cornwall Council detailing the reasons behind his resignation.

"I had one meeting with the new leader of the council which lasted about 30 seconds and I still have not met the new CEO," he said.

"I have received over 17,500 emails, hundreds of phone calls on all days of the week and at times ranging from 6:30am to 11pm but the sentiment I received when helping a members of the public made it worthwhile."

Mr Elliot went on to criticize the make-up of committees within the council.

"I was foolish to think that members were promoted and elected to certain committees based on their range of skills, knowledge and experience. I was wrong again to think that the 10 undemocratically elected cabinet members could consist of the elite from all parties which would have provided the skills required to incur the best and right decisions for the council's shareholders – the public."

The letter also documents Mr Elliot's dissatisfaction at job losses at the council's Democratic Services department which he says led to member's committee meetings being reduced by 50%.

"Have we been wasting all of this time attending meetings which all of a sudden are deemed unnecessary? Of course not, I just saw this as another way that they could reduce members input as it appeared that the sacred cabinet was far too important to dedicate time to us 'ordinary' members," he added.

"Too many times the Cornish public appear to come second and the politics first as time and time again we see group voting like sheep or members abstain when, in my opinion, you can only be for or against the issue on the table. Last year I was speaking to one senior Conservative member who told me that Cornwall Council should not be closing our public toilets but he did nothing about it."

Mr Elliot accused the council of "poor business management" regarding the toilets, saying that an introduction of a 20p charge would result in profit making rather than loss. He was also critical of the Deprivation Report carried out by Cornwall Council which he says produced no evidence of accidents, yet was used as an excuse to install much-criticized speed humps in Illogan while he could not get a speed island installed outside Pencoys Primary School.

"This must not be seen as a complaint against Cornwall Council because this appears to be the unacceptable way that all local governments work, I am only trying to offer a quick explanation and apology to my Four Lanes ward as to why, after working in private industry for over 50 years, I can no longer work in the public sector shambles," he concluded.