A DISTRICT councillor has accused a political opponent of dirty tricks in the run up to the May local elections.

Cllr Christine Eatwell (Lechlade, Ind) has pointed out that a letter printed in the Standard last week from Alex Palmer taking a personal swipe at her low attendance at council meetings did not mention that he would be running against her to represent Lechlade at on the district council.

This, said Cllr Eatwell, is in contravention of election regulations. Both Cllr Eatwell and Mr Palmer are contesting the Lechlade seat on May 3.

Mr Palmer told the Standard this week that he had not been confirmed as a candidate at the time he sent the letter for publication.

In his letter last week Mr Palmer said: "I would like to point out to Mrs Eatwell that she was elected and is paid to serve her residents at Cotswold District Council. She was not elected by us to spend her time serving other committees, whatever her excuses."

Cllr Eatwell's attendance records came to light recently in figures published in a district council agenda.

It was later revealed, however, that mistakes in minutes meant her figure should have been higher and the council's standards committee agreed she had plenty of time to reach the required minimum attendance of 66 percent of meetings. She was not, therefore, named as one of those councillors who might be required to pay back some of their attendance allowance.

Cllr Eatwell told the Standard: "If Mr Palmer had taken the trouble to read the minutes of the standards committee meeting he would see that my name was not even mentioned at the meeting.

"In his letter to the Standard he should have declared that he was standing against me. This is just dirty tricks. It is a very personal swipe at me.

"I strongly believe that party politics has no place in local democracy, which is why I stand as an Independent."

Mr Palmer, who is standing as a Conservative party candidate, said he only received his confirmation as a candidate after writing the letter. He admitted, however that this was two days before it appeared in the Standard.

He said: "I didn't realise I should have done that in the first instance. I was naive about it but I didn't feel I was doing anything underhanded.

"I live in Lechlade and love the town. There's a lot of problems in Lechlade with drunks, traffic and litter. I have contacted my district council in the past and received no help from Cllr Eatwell. That is why I am running."