Controversial Conservative Councillor dropped
A Controversial Conservative councillor has been dropped by the Tory party ahead of next year's general election.
Cllr Bathurst is behind controversial plans to dig up Windsor's Town Centre to link the two railway lines, a project which will also include massive property development in part of the town's cente.
Earlier in the year Cllr Bathurst was also caught taking photographs in an election count, whilst in December 2011 Cllr Bathurst tried to have campaigners collecting signatures in Windsor's Peascod Street to save Heatherwood Hospital arrested.
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Cllr George Bathurst, Royal Borough cabinet member for policy and performance, has not been re-selected by the Windsor Conservative Association (WCA) to fight for his Castle Without ward seat in next year's election. He has held the seat since 2011 and also contested in the 2003 election.
Cllr Bathurst is an active campaigner for the Conservative Party and one of the organisers of the Conservative Renewal Conference in Windsor. He said: "I cannot comment on that at the moment."
When quizzed about why Cllr Bathurst was dropped, Cllr Robert McLean, a Bracknell Forest councillor and chairman of the WCA, said: "I have no intention at all to talk about individual cases."
The Observer understands Cllr Bathurst has launched an appeal of the decision in a bid to be reinstated.
Cllr McLean added: "There would have to be justifiable grounds for it [an appeal] to be heard. An appeal has to be based on the fact that the process was flawed, not the outcome."
Candidates wishing to stand for the WCA are first interviewed by a four person panel who vote in secret on whether to allow the candidate on to the approved list to stand in any seat in the borough.
Successful candidates then give a five-minute speech at a meeting of WCA members - of which there are around 500 - and answer questions before members vote in a secret ballot and ward candidates are selected.
Cllr Sue Evans will also not be standing in the next election as she is retiring as a councillor. She has held a seat in the ward since 2007.
As a result, the ward will be stocked with a fresh set of Conservative candidates - as the third ward seat holder is UKIP's Cat Bursnall - potentially leaving the door open for opposition.
Antony Wood, chairman of the Windsor constituency Liberal Democrats who stood in Castle Without in 2011 placing fourth, said: "The ruling Conservative Party has spent most of the past three years fighting each other, rather than serving the residents. Decent representation of an opposition is needed."
The new Conservative candidates are long-standing WCA member and one of the founders of the Kings House School, Wesley Richards, the owner of the Viceroy of Windsor restaurant Shamsul Shalim and Warwick University graduate Jack Rankin, who has recently moved to Windsor.
The WCA hope to have all of their candidates for next year's elections confirmed by the middle of November.