Her goal as a town councillor was to represent the people of Neyland.

This week Leah Unwin has spoken out about her disillusionment at the way in which the town council is currently functioning.

“When I joined Neyland town council back in July 2022, my aim was to strengthen the connection between the council and the community,” she said.

“And my reason for joining was because the role of a councillor is described as the mouthpiece of the community.

“But since I’ve been a member, I’ve realised that that’s not the case in Neyland Town Council.”

Leah Unwin claims the council is turning a blind eye to public opinion and is failing to tackle local issues in a personable way.

“I suppose the case in point is the Christmas Tree fiasco, when Neyland could have responded to the requests from the people of the town and position the tree in a more visible part of the town rather than the Hub. This would have been a positive PR exercise.

“And now, once again, we have the town clock saga.”

Leah went on to say that the town’s historic clock, which was recently restored by Neyland Men’s Shed, is due to be installed by the town council at Bethesda Chapel.

“The Men’s Shed has worked really hard at it, and are very proud of what they’ve achieved,” continued Leah.

“It was supposed to go up in October and it didn’t, then we were told it would go up with the Christmas lights and it didn’t and then we were told it would go up when the Christmas lights came down. And it didn’t.  This simply isn't fair.”

Leah is also requesting greater financial transparency from Neyland Town Council.

“Most of their finances are raised by our council tax and as a result, people have got every right to know where every penny of that money is going to.

"I also know there’s a general concern in the community concerning by how much the council is subsidising the hub, despite that being a private company.

"There has to be a much more open financial transparency."

Neyland Town Council currently has five vacancies following the recent resignations of three more councillors.

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At this week’s meeting, councillors agreed to initiative the co-opting process with immediate effect. Interviews are expected to commence in February.

“Historically, we always used to have people fighting over vacancies but now it’s a totally different thing,” commented the acting chair of Neyland Town Council, Mike Harry.

“People just don’t want to be councillors.”