A councillor has resigned from her role after only six weeks after she was put under investigation for accusing another councillor of being racist.

Jill Cowling, 50, of Claremont Road, Wivenhoe, alleged at a Wivenhoe Town Council meeting councillor Glenn Widgery was racist for appearing to deride the Black Lives Matter movement on a social media platform.

In a social media post on his Facebook page, Mr Widgery wrote: “I read all this black lives matter. What about the ducks?”

Mrs Cowling is believed to have been asked by Roddy Ashworth, who stood for election at Wivenhoe Town Council last month, whether Mrs Cowling stood by the claims she made about Mr Widgery.

Mrs Cowling, speaking about the incident at the meeting which took place last month, said: “Roddy Ashworth put a question to me asking whether I stand by my allegations saying that Councillor Widgery is a racist and I said ‘Yes’.

When the police investigated the social media post put online by Mr Widgery, they concluded it was not classed as a hate crime because certain words were not used in the online post.

Mr Widgery was also subsequently deemed to have not breached the councillor’s code of conduct.

But Mrs Cowling was then investigated because her allegations were deemed to be in breach of the same code.

However, Mrs Cowling has resigned from the town council now, so the investigation has been closed.

In a letter shared on social media, Mrs Cowling handed in her resignation to Wivenhoe mayor Andrea Luxford-Vaughan.

As part of the letter, she said: “I believe many councillors are too detached from the community they serve.

“I will look forward to attending council meetings as a member of the public in future.”

The Gazette approached Mr Widgery to offer him the chance to comment on the issue, but he declined.