WEST Somerset Council's newest member has resigned - just two months after winning an election which cost taxpayers at least £2,500. Conservative Dudley Seale, who had represented the Alcombe East ward since the beginning of May, also stepped down this week from Minehead Town Council - 14 months after being elected to the authority. Mr Seale, a former hotelier, won the district poll largely on a ticket to save Minehead's Aquasplash swimming pool. But he told the Free Press that he had been unable to do that. Mr Seale did not reveal the details of what he had done since taking up his seat to get the facility reopened. But he said: "In my opinion, it has been going to happen since before the February meeting that so many people attended." He added that he was unhappy with the way the negotiations between the district council and recreation specialist Tone Leisure - who publicly expressed an interest in running the pool but failed to submit any formal tender - were conducted. Mr Seale said he had thought long and hard about the difference he could make on the town and district councils: "Nothing is the answer I have come up with. I have therefore decided to resign both seats," he said. "The cabinet, as has been for a while, make the decisions for us at district. I have seen and heard nothing since I joined the council to make me believe this present cabinet and administration will do anything to better the area."
