A petition calling upon East Devon District Council to undertake a community governance review of Honiton Town Council will officially be handed in next Tuesday (Dec 8).

It is hoped that the community governance review will dissolve the current council following numerous unsuccessful requests by Honiton residents for the remaining incumbents to resign.

It will then be possible for all candidates wishing to join, or re-join, the council to present their manifestos to the residents of Honiton, who can vote for the candidates they feel have the town's best interests at heart.

There has been no contested election for the council since 2015 and some councillors have never stood for election.

With a newly elected town council, it will be possible to embrace new ways of working, engage with a larger cross section of our community and encourage new projects that will help create an environmentally sustainable future.

Honiton Forward, who are presenting the petition to EDDC authorities, are a group formed by members of the community who want to see Honiton thrive.

They wish to see properly laid to rest, the negativity that has thwarted the town council, which has been notorious for adversarial behaviour, secrecy, disrupted meetings and allegations of bullying for most of the last decade.

A significant proportion of the town, as demonstrated in over 1,400 signatures on the petition, are unhappy with how Honiton Town Council has and continues to conduct itself and want to see real change and a fresh start for the Honiton community.

Honiton Forward have stressed that their campaign is not specifically political. They believe that current councillors have let the community down and are seeking to bring about an election so that the people of the town can decide who they want representing them.