A LONG-serving local politician has quit Ludgvan Parish Council because of a row over a controversial cycle path overlooking St Michael's Mount.
Nigel Honess, who joined the council in 1997 and spent 13 years as chairman, has resigned his position, leaving the small council with only five out of 12 seats filled.
The move comes just days after it was revealed in The Cornishman that work had started on a footpath and cycleway between Marazion and the station car park, which more than 400 local people had objected to in a petition.
Cornwall Council started work on the site last week without informing the parish council, and Mr Honess said it was another example of the unitary body doing exactly what it wanted to.
The council said the decision to go ahead with the cycle path followed a "comprehensive consultation process".
Mr Honess, 70, said: "I am very angry and very upset. I have always lived my life by principles and I think those principles have been broken beyond repair for me now.
"I feel very sad that perhaps I am letting down the parish council members I have left behind but they understand and agree with how I feel and sympathise.
"With Penwith District Council we had our ups and downs but we always got answers to our questions.
"Sometimes we won, sometimes we did not. Since these four years as unitary it has got worse and worse."
Current parish council chairman Richard Sergeant said that Mr Honess would be sorely missed.
"Nigel is a very important member of the council," he said. "He approached me with his feeling that he was letting me and the council down which he has not, he is the one that has been let down. That is going to leave us with a council of five."
There are also rumours that other Ludgvan councillors are considering their positions in light of the cycle path decision.
A spokeswoman for Cornwall Council said: "The petition was received by the council and its contents mirrored comments received from other respondents during the consultation exercise which were fully considered as part of the decision-making process.
"The benefits of the cycle path are in line with the council's Connecting Cornwall local transport plan which aims to encourage healthy active lifestyles by promoting cycling as a safe, sustainable and healthy means of travel."
It is also intended to continue the cycle path to the Folly Field car park in the future to complete the route from Marazion to Penzance.
