Four years of mirth and/or misery for Southport news forum readers are finally coming to an end.

Suspended independent Conservative councillor David Barton has not submitted nomination forms to seek re-election in Southport's Dukes Ward which he has represented on Sefton Council for the past four years.

This means that the almost daily round of self-publicism will shortly come to a complete finish. No more will outrageous personal claims be made for all sorts of unrelated achievements. There will be no more clipboards, no more shiny blue suits, no more hapless members of ther public wheeled out in photographs next to the smiling prophet of 'appreciations' and 'respectfulness'.

Shame, although the bar was incredibly low I think he did a better job than the collective Lib Dem “senior” Cllrs who loved to attack and bully him. Shame they couldn’t all work together for the good of Southport as although a little misguided and odd he did want to try better Southport rather than constantly be at war with all other parties and the wider borough.

Dawson will have the Cherry Brandy cracked open for this news no doubt.

The only councillor in Dukes/Cambridge/Meols/Kew and Birkdale actually doing anything.

Nice bloke and wanted change, I suppose he has been bullied out really, sad.

No matter the tone of this article, and yes he could be a bit OTT, but at least David Barton actually tried to get some things done.

I didn't always agree with his efforts but he put some graft in and he was a strong advocate of local councillors treating their position and residents with respect, unlike the actions of the some of those attacking him in the town.

Despite his faults and the fact that he's on the other side of political spectrum, he went up in my estimation when he tried to defend the Kew Park Campaigners from the shouting and haranguing they received from several Southport Lib-Dem councillors late last year at Area Committee.

It was a new low in Lib-Dem behaviour and Cllr Barton took them to task for it alongside the Labour councillors, Bill and Marianne Welsh.

As such, I hope whomever succeeds him will also believe that councillors should show respect to residents and act accordingly, as certain current Lib-Dem "senior" councillors appear to have completely forgotten it.

needs time to visit his old fella soon, so bugger being a council official.

Please can someone just remind me just WHY he was suspended!

Is riddance one ‘d’ or two?

Originally Posted by pedoja

Please can someone just remind me just WHY he was suspended!

Because of the ongoing court case involving him and his family.

Originally Posted by roving-eye

This means that the almost daily round of self-publicism will shortly come to a complete finish. No more will outrageous personal claims be made for all sorts of unrelated achievements. There will be no more clipboards, no more shiny blue suits, no more hapless members of ther public wheeled out in photographs next to the smiling prophet of 'appreciations' and 'respectfulness'.

Well it says a lot about the integrity of Qlocal that they were quite happy to indulge him in his self promotion.

I am sure that David Barton endorses a lot of what the central Tory government does ie it s vile austerity programme , That said he attempted to make Southport a more pleasing place to live in his own idiosyncratic way.

The whole family appear to be circling their wagons ..

I am sorry he has decided not to stand for re-election: he has been far better than those useless Lib-Dems. At least he has done his best to get people to care about our town. He has also been very pleasant when approached.

In my ward (Cambridge) the Lib Dem’s have never responded positively to any local problem at the town edge of their constituency. Whenever there has been a problem, I have e mailed all 3 councillors. The first time Tom Glover was the only one to respond positively and got things done. Then Tony Crabtree was the one who responded and finally Harry Bliss. As a result I have little time for our Lib Dem representatives.
I see now that Cllr Sue M is not standing after being beaten into 3rd place at the general election - she will be no loss to this end of town!
I am sure she has her fans in the ward and has worked hard on their behalf - just not my experience!

As has been said, whether his political allegiances chime with your own or not, you have to admit that he has worked hard to try and improve the appearance of the town centre and particularly Lord Street. At least he got out there and put the effort in, even if his reports were often grammatically baffling.

Should he be cleared of the charges of financial irregularities that he faces I do hope he stands for election again. We need more strong advocates for our town regardless of their political leanings.

Originally Posted by Darkside

As has been said, whether his political allegiances chime with your own or not, you have to admit that he has worked hard to try and improve the appearance of the town centre and particularly Lord Street. At least he got out there and put the effort in, even if his reports were often grammatically baffling.

Should he be cleared of the charges of financial irregularities that he faces I do hope he stands for election again. We need more strong advocates for our town regardless of their political leanings.

I'd agree in a lot of ways... but it rather flies in the face of your biased response on the Liz Savage piece.

Originally Posted by Darkside

As has been said, whether his political allegiances chime with your own or not, you have to admit that he has worked hard to try and improve the appearance of the town centre and particularly Lord Street. At least he got out there and put the effort in, even if his reports were often grammatically baffling.

Should he be cleared of the charges of financial irregularities that he faces I do hope he stands for election again. We need more strong advocates for our town regardless of their political leanings.

Agreed, he should stand for re-election once court proceedings are resolved.....
Meanwhile he has shown personal integirty in standing-down whilst the issue comes to the fore. Whilst I don't agree with his politics I will offer encouragement to him that there's no doubt in my mind that he's done more for Southport Town Centre than any of his useless "in the Bootle pocket" counterparts............
Good luck in the future fella, the electorate always tells the truth like a "classy bottle of wine"!