WEST Oxfordshire District Council Conservative group leader Barry Norton has described the resignation of two councillors from the party as “sad and disappointing”.

District councillors Steve Hayward and David Snow resigned from the Conservative Party following the county council elections last week.

Mr Norton, said: “It is always sad and disappointing if members choose to leave the group they were elected to, whatever their reasons.

“In the interests of our residents we shall continue to work to ensure West Oxfordshire District Council performs well in all it does for our area at the lowest possible cost to council taxpayers.”

Mr Hayward, who represents Ducklington, said: “I have been unhappy within the group for nearly a year, since I was sacked from my position as chairman of the environ-ment scrutiny committee and I have been unhappy with quite a few policies on the district council.”

Mr Hayward, who has been a councillor since 1987, said he planned to step down from the district council at the end of his term next year.

Mr Snow, who represents Witney North, said: “There have always been certain things that I have not agreed with on the national scale, but same-sex marriage was the last straw for me.

“It was not in the manifesto, there was no mandate for it. It was dropped on us from nowhere. It is my own personal conviction that I have left the party.”

Both will continue to represent their wards as independents.