FORMER mayor of Wallingford Alec Hayton has called for a major revamp of the town's Regal Centre as he resigns from the town council 21 years after he first joined.

Mr Hayton and Kevin Harvey have quit the council this month and two new councillors are now needed to bring the number back up to 16.

Mayor Ros Lester said there should by-elections to find replacements for but town councillor Lynda Atkins said it would be cheaper to co-opt two new members, which would not require elections.

Father-of-two Mr Hayton, who has served as mayor twice, joined the council in 1995 but decided last month it was time to quit.

He said: "I'm coming up to 75 and I thought the time was right for me to go – I was struggling to hear what the other councillors were saying at the committee meetings.

"I was also a district councillor for about eight years – I'm sad to go but it has to happen."

Mr Hayton, who used to run a tree surgery firm, said he was proud to have been part of the town council when it built a £300,000 children's centre in Wigod Way, which opened in 2014.

But he added: "I do think a proper revamp of the Regal Centre is needed: at the moment it's like a big shed and it's really not the ideal place for sports like badminton which are played there.

"At one point we thought of putting in a mezzanine floor but the costs outweighed the value."

The centre, a former 1930s cinema off St Martin's Street, is used for community activities and a food market.

In 2014, the then mayor Bernard Stone said the Regal Centre was badly in need of repair and estimated that a revamp could cost between £300,000 and £1.5m, if it was completely rebuilt following demolition.

Independent county councillor Lynda Atkins paid tribute to Mr Hayton for his "tremendous service" to the town.

She added: "He was on the council for eight years after he joined and then took a few years out before returning - he has done a huge amount for Wallingford over the years."

Ms Atkins said she backed Mr Hayton's call for a major revamp for the Regal Centre.

She added: "During the past year we have spent at least £20,000 on repairs to the roof and parapet around it.

"It's now safe and secure but I agree with Alec – we need a step change, a complete revamp because the population of Wallingford is growing quite rapidly with all the new homes being built and we need more community facilities.

"Access to the centre is awful - it's not listed so potentially it could be bulldozed but I think that would be a waste and we now need to come up with some proper plans for how it can be improved."

Mrs Lester said the new councillors should be elected, not co-opted, so they could be "voted in by the people."

She added: "I'm hoping the places will be filled within the next two months."

Mr Harvey, who has been a town councillor for about a year, was unavailable for comment.