Suspended Borth councillor resigns after dog beach row

A former magistrate has resigned as a community councillor in Ceredigion after a six-month suspension.

Janet Owen, formerly of Borth Community Council, near Aberystwyth, failed to comply with the authority's code of conduct after breaching a ban on dogs using a beach.

She was investigated by the public services ombudsman last year.

Mrs Owen was unavailable for comment. Her husband Graham confirmed her resignation from the council.

Ceredigion council's standards committee suspended Mrs Owen in November for bringing her office into disrepute following a report by the ombudsman.

She was accused of failing to "show respect and consideration for others and had used bullying behaviour" at Borth Community Council, but ldescribed this as "ridiculous".

She was also found to have breached the code of conduct by using the "resources of the authority imprudently and in breach of the authority's requirements", relating to repairs to a village playground.

In response, Mrs Owen said: "I thought I had permission to spend money on the repairs to the playground. It was dangerous."

Mrs Owen also appeared before magistrates in Swansea on 10 November 2009, when she admitted walking her dog on Borth beach.

She admitted one charge under the Public Health Act and two counts of breaching a Ceredigion council dog control order, and was fined £70 and ordered to pay £500 in costs.

She had been a magistrate in Ceredigion since 2003, but resigned following her conviction.

Mrs Owen has been in dispute with the local authority over a summertime beach ban on dogs in Borth since 2004.