A FORMER Bournemouth mayor has announced he is leaving the Conservative Party after being dropped as a candidate.

Cllr Chris Mayne is among numerous serving councillors who have not been selected by the party to contest the election for the new unitary council in May next year.

However, Cllr Mayne said he still wishes to serve his residents in West Southbourne, and he intends to leave the party now and set himself up as an independent candidate.

“They don’t give us a reason for these decisions, but in most wards there will only be two councillors where now there are three,” he said.

“I will carry on trying to represent the people of Southbourne. I enjoy the work and have been very much involved with community events such as Shake and Stir and the Halloween events.”

Cllr Mayne – who was a Liberal Democrat when first elected in 2003 – said he was leaving the group now to give himself time to prepare to campaign as an Independent.

“I would like to see a lot more independents,” he said.

“I have never been a great fan of party politics in local government.”

He said he believed he had not been selected as he was not so well known to the Conservative Association due to skipping party social events, although he is generally in support of the party’s policies locally.

Tory councillors are jockeying for seats as Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole councils are replaced by one. The new council will have 76 councillors compared with the current 120.

It is thought some councillors from Christchurch may look to stand in Bournemouth and Poole and vice versa.

Another long-serving Bournemouth Conservative, Cllr David Smith, has already missed out on being selected for the Central ward he has represented for many years. He said he was “at a loss” to explain the decision.

Two Kinson councillors, Mark Battistini and Amadeo Angelini, have also missed out on selection. Bournemouth council’s deputy leader, Cllr Nicola Greene has moved from the Wallisdown and Winton West ward to represent Westbourne and West Cliff alongside council leader John Beesley.

In Poole, former council leader Cllr Elaine Atkinson failed to win selection for her Penn Hill council ward. Her colleague and former mayor Cllr Xena Dion also missed out on the seat, although it is understood she has since been picked for the Poole Town ward.

The episode prompted Dorset’s police and crime commissioner Martyn Underhill to criticise the decision on Twitter and attack veteran councillor Ann Stribley, who was selected to stand again.

In a tweet which he later removed, Mr Underhill said: “What a sad day for democracy when a titan such as Elaine Atkinson, MBE, ex-mayor, ex-leader and massive social campaigner loses in councillor nomination to an out of touch, out of date joke like Cllr Stribley.”