A VACANCY will next week be declared in Tavistock's north ward, following an agreement at a meeting in the town last week.

Cllr Jane Ramsay's seat will fall vacant on August 5. At this point, she will have been absent from the town council due to ill-health for 12 months.

Six months ago, councillors agreed to accept her apologies for absence, in the hope she could soon return to her civic duties.

Cllr Ted Sherrell, at last week's full council meeting, proposed that members now rejected Cllr Ramsay's apologies, given the longevity of her absence.

He said: 'Mrs Ramsay is an excellent councillor and her input was greatly valued for a long time. She's a lady I respect and admire, but there comes a point, and it's not easy to stand here and say this, when our respect for a valued colleague has to be superseded by our duty to the electorate. I move that we cannot, sadly, accept her apologies.'

Cllr Trew backed Cllr Sherrell's proposal. He said Cllr Ramsay was a 'free-spirited' person who spoke for what she believed in, which was a 'wonderful' attribute in a councillor, and it was with regret he supported the proposal.

It was agreed the town clerk should write to Cllr Ramsay thanking her for her services during the past six years.

The vacancy will be declared on August 6.