INCREASING Government bureaucracy has been blamed by Pewsey Parish Council chairman Colin Lampard for his decision to stand down after 33 years.

Coun Lampard, who was one of the longest serving council chairmen in the country, took colleagues by surprise on Tuesday when he did not offer himself for re-election and nominated his vice-chairman Alex Carder as his successor.

He had opened the meeting by expressing his regret that there had been only 17 nominations for the council's 21 seats at the local elections two weeks ago.

Coun Lampard, a retired civil servant, said it was a shame that the councillors had been returned without an election and without a mandate.

Coun John Cooke headed those who paid tribute to his long service saying: "You have served this parish nobly and no-one is more surprised than I am that you did not want to continue. Pewsey owes you a great debt of gratitude."

Later Coun Lampard said: "After 33 years as chairman I felt the time had come for a change."

He was the first to agree that he was an old-style chairman who conducted business using commonsense rather than going by the rulebook.

Coun Lampard added: "Legislation introduced by the present Government made it difficult for an existing chairman to change his style to meet the new draconian procedures."