WATCHET Town Council has been rocked by the resignation of one councillor and the soon-to-be confirmed resignation of another.

Former member Vincent Woods told the Free Press this week he was "relieved" after deciding to resign from the authority.

Fellow town councillor Jenny Hill also set out to resign - but her original letter was deemed to be invalid as it was not addressed to the chairman.

She pledged to write a new version yesterday as the Free Press went to print and said she was supporting Mr Woods and stepping down as "a matter of principle".

Both Cllr Hill and Mr Woods have been embroiled in recent months in heated exchanges both in and out of the council chamber over the now agreed dog ban on the town's memorial ground.

Cllr Hill was barred from taking part in council debates after writing a letter against the ban as a resident of the town, while Mr Woods was persuaded not to hand in his notice only a matter of weeks ago.

Mr Woods told the Free Press: "In my letter to the town council, I said I was resigning because I had lost confidence in my ability to work effectively as a town councillor.

"I believe, when one appreciates that one is on a collision course, the correct action is evasive action and that is what I took rather than cause an accident."

He said, as far as he was concerned, the "dog ban issue" had been resolved by the town council at its meeting in March and felt strongly that what had now been approved was significantly different.

"I'm relieved I've taken the decision to go," Mr Woods said.

Having returned to Watchet on his retirement in 1999, Mr Woods had served on the town council since 2003.

Cllr Hill has served on the town council since 2007 and will remain as one of the town's representatives on West Somerset Council.

She said: "Why be on a council when you can't speak and can't vote?

"I am appalled at the way Vincent has been treated and, as I will say in my letter, I am resigning as a matter of principle."

As reported in last week's Free Press, dogs will be banned from the sports and playing pitches from January 1, leaving dog walkers with a strip of land on two sides of the ground to exercise their pets.

Mr Woods claimed the town council had exceeded its powers by passing a resolution in September excluding dogs from the Doniford Road boundary as well - a claim denied by town council clerk Sarah Reed.

She said the council had not made a firm decision about which areas to include within a ban when the issue was discussed in March, which meant Doniford Road could be included when the subject was voted on in September.

The town council eventually agreed to implement the ban in the New Year following a heated meeting in the council chamber last week.