ONE of Burnley's three BNP councillors is to stand down at the next council elections.

Terence Grogan, the far-right's party leader in the council chamber, said work commitments have forced him to give up his seat.

Coun Grogan said: "It is just impossible to make the meeting with the shift I work.

"I am not like other councillors who get time off from their jobs to attend meetings.

"But I have done a lot of work in Gannow, talking to residents and trying to get things sorted for them."

Burnley Council leader Stuart Caddy said his BNP counterpart would not be missed.

He said: "His decision to stand down does not surprise me.

"He has said that work commitments have forced his decision and I am not going to argue with that.

"It must come as a shock to the BNP that the leader of their council group is not going to stand for re-election.

"I think people find once they get inside the council its is harder than they imagine.

"But the BNP councillors have not contributed one bit during the past 12 months and they have found it difficult to pick up exactly how the council works.

"I can't say that councillor Grogan will be missed. He didn't put any contribution in, so I can't judge how he's been as a councillor.

"All the promises they made before election and they did not turn up to the budget meetings.

"We are going to be spending millions in Burnley next year and they didn't even bother to turn up."

Responding to the criticism, Coun Grogan added: "Carole Hughes was working, I was working shifts and David Edwards was working away from home at the time of the budget meeting."

The Gannow seat will now be contested by Carol Hughes, already a BNP councillor for the Rosegrove with Lowerhouse ward.

David Edwards the party's third Burnley councillor, elected to represent Cliviger with Worsthorne in May 2002, is not due for re-election until 2004.